Simone Farina has joined Aston Villa's coaching staff.

Farina played a key role in helping to stop a match-fixing attempt in Italy last year and has joined Aston Villa as a community coach, says the Mirror.

The former Roma defender hit the headlines when approached and offered 200,000 euros to help influence a Coppa Italia match between his club Gubbio and Cesena in November 2011.

But Farina refused, reported the incident to Italian police and his evidence helped lead to the arrest of 17 people the following month.

It led to FIFA president Sepp Blatter naming 30-year-old Farina as a FIFA ambassador for fair play.