His ex-boss Andrea Agnelli, who was officially replaced this week as club president, received a two-year suspension, along with other ex-managers, but also a current manager, of the most titled Italian football (36 league titles), according to the press release from the Italian Football Federation.

Juve had been acquitted with ten other clubs in this case in the spring of 2022 but the Federation Court of Appeal accepted the request of the federal prosecutor to reopen the case, only for the Turin club, in view of the elements transmitted by justice Italian who is also investigating the accounts of the "Old Lady".

By inflicting on Juve this penalty of fifteen points, "to be served in the current season" according to the terms of the press release, the instance went beyond the requisitions of the prosecutor who had recommended a withdrawal of nine points during the hearing Friday.

Here she is now pushed back from third place (with 37 pts) to tenth (with 22 pts) in Serie A. This sanction as it stands, greatly compromises her chances of finishing in the top four of Serie A and therefore of compete in the lucrative Champions League next season.

The bianconero club said it was waiting for "the publication of the reasons" for the decision but "pre-announced already" that it would file an appeal before the arbitration board of the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), in a press release on his site.

Juventus players Angel Du Maria (g) and Arkadiusz Milik during the match in Naples, January 13, 2023 © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

The Court of Appeal also imposed long suspensions on the club's ex-managers: two and a half years against ex-sporting director Fabio Paratici, today at Tottenham, and two years for ex-president Andrea Agnelli.

The ex-glory of the club Pavel Nedved, former vice-president, receives him from an eight-month suspension.

Financial losses

Note that the current sports director, Federico Cherubini, is also among those sanctioned with a suspension of sixteen months.

Here too, the sanctions are stronger than the requisitions of the federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chinè.

Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri during a match in Naples, January 13, 2023 © Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

If other clubs had originally been sued, Juventus have always been on the front line in this case: they were accused of having overstated the selling prices of certain players, in the context of cross-selling with other clubs. mainly other clubs, to record artificially inflated capital gains in its accounts.

Juve is also the subject of a judicial investigation into possible accounting fraud to artificially limit its losses in its balance sheets presented to investors, between 2018 and 2021.

The Turin prosecutor's office requested in early December the dismissal of Andrea Agnelli and eleven other ex-leaders.

This request must be examined at the end of March.

Andrea Agnelli announced his resignation at the end of November, under legal pressure.

His successor, Gianluca Ferrero, was officially inducted on Wednesday.

The new management will have the task of redressing the sporting situation of the Old Lady, without a title last season for the first time in eleven years, but above all the worrying financial situation: the club has recorded losses of more than 200 million euros these last two seasons and is also being watched by UEFA due to its fragile finances.

Dark hours which plunge the club into its worst turbulence since the scandal of "calciopoli" (influence on the referees) which had led to its administrative relegation to the second division and the loss on green carpet of the titles of 2005 and 2006.

© 2023 AFP