Italy’s most storied soccer club, Juventus, was hit with a massive 15-point penalty for false accounting Friday following an appeal hearing at the Italian soccer federation.
The punishment could eliminate the club’s chances of playing
in Europe next season. A record 36-time Italian champion, Juventus was third in
Serie A and the penalty drops the Bianconeri to a midtable position — 25 points
behind leader Napoli and 12 points from the Champions League places.
Juventus said it will appeal the decision to Italy’s highest
sports court within the Italian Olympic Committee.
Also, former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli and former
club CEO Maurizio Arrivabene were each banned for two years from soccer
activities and more bans were handed out for nine other members of Juve’s staff
or former board, which resigned en masse in November following an investigation
by Turin public prosecutors into alleged false bookkeeping.
The longest ban of 2 ½ years was handed out to former
Juventus sporting director and current Tottenham managing director Fabio
Paratici, while current Juventus sporting director Federico Cherubini was given
16 months and former Juventus player turned board member Pavel Nedved was given
eight months.
The bans prohibit those individuals from engaging in soccer
activities in Italy, “with the request that the ban be extended to UEFA and
FIFA activities.”
Juventus has denied wrongdoing and was initially cleared by
the sports court in April. But an appeal was made after the federation
collected papers from the Turin prosecutors.
Federation prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné had requested a
nine-point penalty for Juventus earlier Friday.
Gianluca Ferrero was appointed Juventus’ new president on
Wednesday, presiding over a smaller five-person board of directors. Also
Wednesday, Agnelli announced that he was stepping down from all of his
positions within the family businesses, including carmaker Stellantis, which
controls FIAT, as well as the Exor holding company.
Agnelli was also one of the architects of the failed
European Super League project.
The penalty comes 17 years after the “Calciopoli” refereeing
scandal that saw Juventus demoted to Serie B and stripped of two Serie A
titles.
Fines were requested for eight other clubs: Sampdoria, Pro
Vercelli, Genoa, Parma, Pisa, Empoli, Pescara and Novara. But all eight other
clubs were cleared.
Juventus was already eliminated from the Champions League in
a horrible start to this season, which also saw it win only two of its opening
nine Serie A matches. The club had since bounced back to climb into the top
four.
Juventus could face further penalties from UEFA, which also
opened an inquiry into the club’s finances after the Turin prosecutor’s office
requested indictments for Agnelli and 10 other former board members as well as
the club itself.
Juventus is listed on the Milan stock exchange, which also
opens it to regulatory scrutiny by the CONSOB watchdog.
At the start of the pandemic, Juventus said 23 players
agreed to reduce their salary for four months to help the club through the
crisis. But prosecutors claim the players gave up only one month’s salary.
Turin prosecutors have also apparently discovered more
alleged secret payments to former player Cristiano Ronaldo that were not
reported by Juventus.
In September, Juventus reported a record loss of 254.3
million euros ($276 million) for the 2021-22 financial year. It was the fifth
consecutive year that Juventus reported a loss, and it was 44.4 million euros
($48 million) more than in 2020-21.
A preliminary hearing for the investigation by Turin
prosecturs is scheduled for March.
Juventus hosts Atalanta in the league on Sunday.
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