Farina takes up Villa role

Simone Farina, who played a key role in helping to stop a match-fixing attempt in Italy last year, has joined Aston Villa as a community coach.

The former Roma defender hit the headlines when approached and offered 200,000 euros to help influence a Coppa Italia match between his club Gubbio and Cesena in November 2011.

But Farina refused, reported the incident to Italian police and his evidence helped lead to the arrest of 17 people the following month.

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