Juventus lose 15 Serie A points for alleged accounting, financial irregularities
Jan 21, 2023
Turin [Italy], January 21 : 15 Serie A points have been deducted from the tally of top Italian club Juventus for alleged financial irregularities and false accounting, while Tottenham Hotspurs' transfer chief Fabio Paratici has received a ban of 30-months from Italian football for his involvement.
The two and half year ban for Paratici, who was also Juve's former sporting director and currently is Director of Football at Spurs, includes a request for an extension to cover activities of UEFA and FIFA, as per Sky Sports.
This decision from the Italian National Football Federation (FIGC) means that the top club will plunge to 10th place from their third position standing in the Serie A table, outside the spots for European competition.
Juve indicated on Friday night that it is waiting for the written reasons behind the sanctions, but will be launching an appeal as well. The court also ruled that the former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli will be banned from holding any office in Italian Football for 24 months.
Former Vice President Pavel Nedved has been handed over a ban of eight months, while the former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene has also been handed a ban.
Juventus has said that its accounting was in line with the standards of the industry and has denied any wrongdoing. Prosecutors had previously recommended a deduction of nine-points over the scandal, in which it was alleged that the club falsely inflated the value of players and misrepresented losses.
The officials, which include Paratici, also intend to appeal the decision to CONI (Italian Olympic Committee). CONI has the power to decide if the decision is correct or not and cannot reduce, change any of the sanctions.
The rulings come after the resignation of the entire Juve board, including Agnelli back in November.
The collective resignation was done after the financial statements of the club faced scrutiny by prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob last year for alleged false accounting and market manipulation.
Further, Juve published that it had faced an annual loss of £220m in the last season, a record-breaking fee in the club history. Their next league game is at home on Sunday against Atalanta.
