However, former Livorno player David Balleri has been banned for four months and his former club fined 25,000 euros after the 39-year-old was found guilty of the lesser charge of "sporting disloyalty".

Livorno's Balleri, brothers Emanuele and Antonio Filippini, and Alessandro Grandoni, as well as Atalanta captain Gian Paolo Bellini and the two clubs themselves were accused of trying to fix last season's Serie A clashes between the two teams, with the first game in December ending 1-1 while the return fixture in May resulted in a 3-2 victory for Atalanta.

A statement on the FIGC website on Thursday afternoon read: "The evidence against the aforementioned Balleri and Bellini (the two captains) is insufficient to conclude that an alleged agreement was met to alter the result of a match as forbidden by the Sporting Code of Justice (CGS).

"The disloyal and inappropriate behaviour of Balleri, in absence of the evidence of an agreement being reached for the alteration of the result of the competitions, is more correctly in violation of article. 1, subsection 1 of the CGS (Sporting Disloyalty)."

Upon hearing the verdict Balleri, who now plays for Serie C2 side Como, told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport: "I'll appeal. I don't deserve it."