Milan, July 27 :

Inter Milan was declared Serie A champion on Wednesday after a sports tribunal stripped Juventus of the title in Italy’s match fixing-scandal.

The Italian soccer federation said the title was assigned to Inter because it was the highest ranking team in the standings

that had not been punished in the case. Inter finished third in the 2005-2006 season, behind Juventus and AC Milan.

Juventus was relegated to Serie B and stripped of the topflight title, while AC Milan was docked 30 points for the past season.

An appeals court on Tuesday also upheld a decision by a lower sports court to strip Juventus of the 2004-2005 league title. That title will remain vacant, the soccer federation said.

Despite the final appeals rulings in the case, Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina say they will continue to fight the penalties they received. Juventus plans to go to court to contest

its relegation.