(Football news) Serie A club Juventus have received a 15 points deduction due to alleged financial irregularities and false accounting while the club’s former Sporting Director Fabio Paratici, who is currently serving as managing director of Tottenham Hotspur has been handed a 30 month ban from Italian football. The decision taken by Italian national football federation’s (FIGC) means that Juventus, who were third in the Serie A will now be in 10th place and look very unlikely to qualify for a European competition next season.
The Serie A club mentioned on Friday that they are waiting for a written copy of the reasons behind the sanctions and will be appealing the decision. According to the verdict, former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli is also banned from holding office in Italian football for 24 months while former vice-chairman Pavel Nedved has been given an eight-month ban. To make matters worse, former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene is also banned despite the club and its board members denying any wrongdoing, publicly stating that their accounting has been according to industry standards.
The prosecutors had initially asked for a nine points deduction, saying that the club had inflated the value of players and misrepresented losses. As things stand, all the officials who have been banned, including Fabio Paratici, will be appealing the decision to CONI (Italian Olympic Committee). While CONI has the power to decide whether the decision that has been taken is correct or not, they cannot change or reduce the sanctions placed on the club and its former officials.
Juventus’ board had resigned in November after prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob went through the club’s financial statements and found irregularities such as false accounting and market manipulation. Juventus had posted a loss of £220m in the last season, a record loss in the history of the club. It remains to be seen how the club manages to hold on to some of their top players for next season, particularly in the absence of Champions League football. All eyes will be on the club when they take on Atalanta on Sunday.
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