Capello hit by perjury probe and faces possible six-year jail sentence

But Capello must now endure an anxious wait as prosecutor Luca Palamara determines whether the former Juventus boss has a case to answer.

Capello was called as a witness to a Rome courtroom in March after six men were accused of putting pressure on players to sign agreements with Gea World, an agency run by former Juventus general manager Luciano Moggi.

Capello, who worked alongside Moggi at Juventus between 2004 and 2006, told the court he did not deal with contracts while in Italy and had not heard of players being pressurised into signing agreements.

That appeared to incense Palamara, so much so that he accused Capello of withholding information and demanded to examine the minutes of the trial to study exactly what the manager had said.

Having reviewed the evidence, Palamara has now declared an official investigation has been launched and if he concludes that Capello has committed perjury the matter will be passed to the judge.

Palamara could even call for a face-to-face meeting with Capello at his office in Rome. For now Capello, who is also under investigation in Turin for tax fraud, has to live with the fact he is in the register for people under investigation.

The 61-year-old has publicly denied any wrongdoing with regard to both investigations and last night his employers at the Football Association dismissed the developments as something of nothing.

An FA spokesman said: "This remains a private matter and we have no comment to make."

An FA insider added: "Everyone here remains extremely relaxed about the situation as we become more familiar with the Italian judicial system."