It was announced yesterday that the 31-year-old, an Italian international defender who was the captain of Fiorentina, had passed away after a "sudden illness".

He was found at Fiorentina's hotel in Udine where his side were preparing for a Serie A clash against Udinese.

All matches in Italy's top league were cancelled.

"We have opened criminal proceedings with a hypothesis of manslaughter," said Udine's chief prosecutor Antonio De Nicolo to Radio Rai.

"For now, the charge is made against unknown persons and we have arranged the autopsy to take place shortly."

He added to Italian news agency ANSA: "It is our duty to ascertain whether the death of Astori was a tragic act of fate or if someone should have known something.

"At this moment in time, there is no individual with responsibilities that appear to correspond to anything.

"The launching of this judicial process will allow us to identify if any responsibility does exist among those people who looked after him."

Astori won 14 caps for Italy and had made 58 appearances for Florence-based Fiorentina since joining them from Cagliari in 2016.

He previously spent eight years at AC Milan after coming through the youth system.

This included loan spells at Roma and Fiorentina before his permanent move.

Astori was a member of the Italy squad for the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

He scored his only international goal in the third-place play-off against Uruguay, which was won by Italy on penalties.

He also became a father for the first time last month.