Three top Italian soccer clubs insisted all charges against them should be thrown out in a match-fixing trial, distancing themselves from champions Juventus who have suggested they might settle for relegation.

Lawyers for AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina said on Thursday the clubs had no case to answer at the trial which has cast a cloud over the national soccer team's qualification for Sunday's World Cup final.

"We at Lazio are innocent. We don't have anything to admit. Obviously Juventus's lawyers have decided it was better to do it like that. But we at Lazio do not have anything to hide," Lazio lawyer Gian Michele Gentile said.

The trial, which is investigating suspected attempts to influence matches by interfering with the selection of referees and linesmen, has rocked Italy.

The four clubs and 26 officials from Italy's soccer authorities, the teams accused, referees and linesmen have denied charges of sporting fraud.

Juventus have raised the prospect that they might agree to relegation to Italy's second division.

Cesare Zaccone, a lawyer for Juventus, told the hearing on Wednesday that if his clients were found guilty "an acceptable punishment could be that of the other clubs, in other words (relegation to) the second division with points deducted".

A sports prosecutor wants Juventus to be stripped of the Serie A titles they won in the past two seasons and sent to the lowly third division with the other three clubs demoted to the second division.

All teams would have points deducted at the start of next season.

The judges at the tribunal in Rome's Olympic Stadium are aiming to deliver a verdict on Monday, the day after the World Cup final between Italy and France in Berlin.

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