Juventus slapped with 15 point Serie A penalty in brutal punishment for finances | Football | Sport
Juventus have been handed a 15-point Serie A penalty for their alleged usage of falsified capital gains. The punishment sees the Old Lady fall to 10th in the Serie A in a huge blow to their hopes of European football next season.
Juventus have been under investigation since last year for alleged financial mismanagement, with prosecutors looking into whether or not the Italian giants misrepresented financial losses between 2018 and 2020, particularly around player sales. The club themselves have always denied any wrongdoing.
As a result of the investigation the entirety of the club’s board, including president Andrea Agnelli and club legend Pavel Nedved, resigned en masse leaving the Turin side facing a significant transition period.
The Italian Football Federation launched their own investigation into what had happened with prosecutor Giuseppe Chine taking the case to the Federal Court of Appeals to reopen the sporting trial against the club. It has been granted and as a result, Juventus will be given a 15-point penalty however the club has confirmed they will appeal the ruling in a statement released on their website.
The points deduction means the club fall to 10th in the Serie A as they go from 37 points to 22. They are now sandwiched between Fiorentina and Bologna 12 points off the European places.
The ruling also affects many of the former Juventus board with many of the top officials handed Italian football bans. Agnelli and Maurizio Arrivabene will serve two year bans while Federico Cherubini has been handed a punishment of around 17 months. Club icon Nedved will be suspended for eight months.
Tottenham managing director Fabio Paratici has been given the longest ban of any former Juventus official, with the Italian Football Federation suspending the 50-year-old from all football-related activity in the country for 30 months. It is not thought to cover working in Britain at this stage but UEFA and FIFA could seek to appeal it to other leagues affecting his work for Spurs.
All of the punishments are subject to an appeal.
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The full list of reasons behind the decision are set to be released in the coming days. In the meantime, Juventus players and staff will prepare for their match with Atlanta this weekend as they desperately seek to salvage their season.
It remains to be seen how the rest of the saga will play out but today will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the club’s history.
