Monti Suggests Suspending Soccer in Italy After Scandal ROME - In his efforts to save Italy from the brink of economic disaster, Prime Minister Mario Monti has repeatedly incurred the wrath of taxpayers and pensioners upset by the severity of his measures. Mr. Monti may have made new enemies on Tuesday when he suggested that soccer in Italy be suspended for two or three years in the wake of a match-fixing scandal that shook the country's most beloved sport this week. Fourteen people were taken into custody on Monday, including the Lazio team's captain, Stefano Mauri, and a former player with Genoa, Omar Milanetto. On its Web site, the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, which organizes and manages Italian soccer, said that other people had been placed under house arrest and that two individuals had been released but had to report daily to the authorities. The arrests are part of a broader investigation by prosecutors in Cremona, Bari and Naples that involves several major league teams and dozens of suspects, according to Italian news reports. It was just six years ago that another match-fixing scandal shook Italy. It resulted in Juventus's being temporarily demoted from Italy's top league, Serie A, with three other teams - Lazio, Fiorentina and A. C. Milan - also being penalized and a number of soccer officials and executives being singled out for punishment. The same Juventus team now reigns as the current Serie A champion. However, its coach, Antonio Conte, finds himself ensnared in the current scandal, having been placed under investigation for possible wrongdoing while previously coaching Siena. During a news conference Tuesday with Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, which with Ukraine is co-host of the European soccer championship, starting June 8, Mr. Monti expressed what he insisted was a personal opinion - not an official proposal - "that it would really benefit the maturity of us Italian citizens if this game was completely suspended" for two to three years. Mr. Monti said he shuddered at the idea that the world of professional soccer, which should value sportsmanslike conduct, had become mired in reprehensible qualities like "treachery, illegality and falseness," and known for its hooligan supporters. The Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio's president, Giancarlo Abete, said that he understood Mr. Monti's bitterness, but that suspending the game was not the solution. The scandal "is a very ugly page in our soccer," Mr. Abete said, and those found guilty of wrongdoing must be sanctioned. Still, "stopping the championships would mean mortifying all soccer, penalizing those who work honestly, which are the majority in our system, and losing thousands of jobs," he told the Italian news agency ANSA. On Monday, the police searched the national team's training camp in Coverciano, and notified the defender Domenico Criscito that he was under investigation "for facts that occurred when he was signed with the Genoa club," the F.I.G.C. said on its Web site. Mr. Criscito was left off the roster for the national team for Euro 2012. Andrea Monti, editor in chief of Gazzetta dello Sport, one of Italy's most respected sports dailies, and no relation to the country's prime minister, said: "I know Mr. Monti was speaking from the heart, but what would we say if president Obama suggested, speaking personally, that the N.B.A. be halted. When political corruption emerges, we don't say, "Let's shut down Parliament." " Halting Italian soccer would mean a considerable economic loss and cost thousands of Italians their jobs, said Mr. Monti, the editor. "It is a vital center of the national economy that lives off its image and sponsors," he said.