Rome, January 21 (BNA): Italian football club Juventus was hit with a massive 15-point penalty for false accounting on Friday, after an appeal hearing in the Italian Football Federation.
The penalty could eliminate the club’s chances of playing in Europe next season. Juventus, a record 36-time Italian champion, is third in Serie A, and the penalty kick drops the Bianconeri to a midfield position – 25 points behind leaders Napoli and 12 points behind the Champions League places.
Juventus said it will appeal the decision to Italy’s highest sports court within the Italian Olympic Committee, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
Also, former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli and former club CEO Maurizio Arrivabene have both been banned for two years from football activities and further bans have been issued to nine other members of the former Juventus staff or board of directors, who resigned en masse in November following an investigation by Turin. Prosecutors in the alleged false bookkeeping.
The longest ban of two and a half years was handed to former Juventus sporting director and current Tottenham managing director Fabio Paracchi, while current sporting director Federico Cherubini was given 16 months, and former Juventus player who became a board member Pavel Nedved was given eight months.
The ban prohibits these individuals from participating in football activities in Italy, “with a request to extend the ban to include UEFA and FIFA activities.”
Juventus denied any wrongdoing and was initially acquitted by CAS in April. But an appeal was filed after the federation collected papers from Turin prosecutors.
Federation Attorney General Giuseppe Chen had requested a nine-point penalty for Juventus earlier on Friday.
Gianluca Ferrero was named Juventus’ new chairman on Wednesday, heading a smaller board of directors of five. Also on Wednesday, Agnelli announced that he was stepping down from all positions in the family businesses, including carmaker Stellantis, which controls FIAT, as well as holding company Exor.
Agnelli was also one of the architects of the failed Europa League project.
The punishment comes 17 years after the arbitration scandal in Calciopoli, which led to Juventus’ relegation to the second division and stripping it of two titles in the Italian League.
Fines were ordered against eight other clubs: Sampdoria, Pro Vercelli, Genoa, Parma, Pisa, Empoli, Pescara and Novara. But all eight other clubs were acquitted.
Juventus have already been eliminated from the Champions League in a terrible start to the season, which also saw them win just two of their first nine matches in Serie A. Since then the club has bounced back to climb into the top four.
Juventus could face further sanctions from UEFA, which also opened an investigation into the club’s finances after the Turin prosecutor’s office requested indictments against 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 up to regulatory scrutiny by CONSOB.
At the start of the pandemic, Juventus said 23 players agreed to take a four-month pay cut to help the club through the crisis. But the plaintiffs claim the players gave up only one month’s salary.
Turin prosecutors have also discovered more secret payments to former player Cristiano Ronaldo that were not reported by Juventus.
In September, Juventus announced a record loss of 254.3 million euros ($276 million) for the 2021-22 financial year. This was the fifth year in a row that Juventus recorded a loss, and an increase of 44.4 million euros ($ 48 million) from the 2020-2021 season.
A preliminary investigation hearing by prosecutors is scheduled in Turin in March.
Juventus hosts Atalanta in the league on Sunday.
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