Italian Court Investigates Juventus Club Transfer Scam
Juventus have been deducted 15 points for the current season by an Italian football court for involved in scam investigating its transfer dealings, the national football federation (FIGC) said on Friday. With 20 games left to play in this season, Juventus were third in Serie A. This point deduction would push them down to mid of the table, which makes them out for the spots for European competition.
Juventus, one of the most successful Italian club and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals. It also decided on a 30-month ban for Juventus’s former sports director, Fabio Paratici, now managing director of football at Premier League club Tottenham.
As per the court orders, the ban currently does not prohibit Fabio Paratici from working outside of Italy, but FIFA and UEFA associations will be asked to uphold the ruling for their own competitions. The club’s CEO Maurizio Arrivabene has also been handed a two-year ban, while former vice-chairman Pavel Nedved has been given an eight-month suspension. Juventus have been waiting to discover the truth after its opened from ban last year.
Prosecuter’s Statement
The prosecutor of the case alleged that the club had showed fake losses in the period between 2018 and 2020, particularly regarding the amount to player sales.
Juventus have denied about their accuse and said they were following finance with industry standards. Besides the points deduction now means they are down in 10th place, and leaves them 12 points adrift of the Champions League places. It is a bitter blow for the Italian giants, and comes just one week after their humbling 5-1 defeat against league leaders Napoli.
A statement from the FIGC confirmed the punishment in a statement that read: “The Federal Court of Appeal presided over by Mario Luigi Torsello has partially accepted the appeal of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office sanctioning Juventus with 15 penalty points to be served in the current football season.”
Fabio Paratici’s ban does not apply to English football, but there is a pending request to extend the punishment to all UEFA and FIFA remits, which if granted, would force Italian team to leave the Football leagues. It comes 17 years after the infamous Calciopoli match fixing scandal was uncovered, which saw Juventus relegated to Serie B and stripped of two league titles.
The FIGC said in a statement that the points sanction was to be inflicted this season, a huge blow to Juventus whose chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League are now greatly compromised. Juventus drop down from third to 10th place on just 22 points, 15 from the top four positions in Italy’s top flight.
Missing out on Europe’s top and richest club competition would be a further blow to the club’s accounts which last season were nearly €239 million in the red. Juve’s current sporting director Federico Cherubini was also banned for 16 months, another serious punishment which Juventus said in a statement they would appeal at the Italian Olympic Committee.
‘INJUSTICE’ about the Sentence
All eight other clubs facing potential FIGC sanctions, including Serie A teams Sampdoria and Empoli, were acquitted, something Juve’s legal team called “a clear injustice”.
They were accused of using capital gains the positive difference between purchase and sale values net of amortisation and write downs from a series of player exchanges in which little or no money passed between clubs. Arthur was valued at €72 million and Pjanic €60 million, sums both clubs could immediately book on their balance sheets while the cost of purchases can be spread over the length of a player’s contract. Juventus recorded a capital gain of €43 million on Pjanic, the second highest in the club’s history.
It follows new evidence from a separate criminal probe into Juve’s finances conducted by prosecutors in Turin. The new board will remain in office until the shareholders’ meeting for the approval of Juve’s accounts as of 30 June 2025.
Agnelli’s departure ended a 12-year reign which brought a host of trophies and for a period re-established Juventus as one of Europe’s best teams but his efforts were ended in vein.
