In a morning raid of police forces mayor and president of Cagliari Calcio were arrested along with public works manager of the city of Quartu Sant’Elia. They were supposed to illegally finance the new stadium of Cagliari from public funds.

Mauro Contini (mayor of Quartu Sant’Elia, where Is Arenas stadium stands), public works manager Stefano Lilliu and Cagliari Calcio president Massimo Cellino have all been arrested in a morning raid of Guardia Forestale, one of Italian police forces.

They are all believed to be involved in public resources embezzlement. Instead of public projects, funds were supposed to support the construction of Cagliari’s new temporary stadium.

Financing of the stadium is only one of issues surrounding it. The venue was built as a result of Cagliari Calcio and municipal authorities not coming to an agreement of Stadio Sant’Elia a year ago. Due to constant works the club had to relocate their games several times, managing to cause controversy as well by allowing people inside despite safety ban.