Italy’s sports authority scraps 15-point penalty for Juventus, orders new trial
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With eight games left to play, the decision will lift Juventus from seventh to third in the Serie A table.
PHOTO: REUTERS
MILAN – Italy’s top sports body on Thursday cancelled a decision to dock Juventus 15 points in a case centred on the club’s transfer dealings, ordering the football authorities to hold a new hearing.
With eight games left to play, the decision will lift Juventus from seventh to third in the Serie A table with 59 points, still 16 behind leaders Napoli but back in the qualifying spots for the lucrative Champions League.
The ruling by Italy’s Sports Guarantee Board came after Juventus, the nation’s most successful side, appealed against a sentence that the football court issued in January as it looked at the way the club and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals.
The football court had also imposed bans from holding office in Italian football on 11 past and present Juventus directors, including former chairman Andrea Agnelli, a prominent member of the family controlling Juventus through their investment company Exor.
Partially accepting the Juventus appeal, the Sports Guarantee Board did not clear the club of wrongdoing but ruled that a football court made up of different judges should now hold new proceedings against the club and some of the directors and come up with a more appropriate punishment.
The sports authority confirmed the bans for four of the 11 directors, including Agnelli and Fabio Paratici, who resigned as Tottenham Hotspur’s managing director on Friday.
Juventus’ chief football officer Francesco Calvo said the club welcomed the decision’s effect on the Serie A table as it provided a degree of certainty to the team and the other sides battling for a spot in the Champions League.
“As of today, we finally have certainty and we expect that the points that have been given back to us will remain with us forever,” Calvo added, speaking before Juventus’ Europa League quarter-final clash against Sporting Lisbon – they drew 1-1 to win 2-1 on aggregate and set up a semi-final with six-time champions Sevilla.
However, Juventus also face potential sporting penalties, including points deductions, in a separate case that Italy’s football association (FIGC) is conducting over alleged irregularities in the club’s payments to players.
FIGC wrapped up investigations last week and is expected to decide whether the club should face another football tribunal.
Inquiries by the sport authorities were triggered by investigations by criminal prosecutors in Turin, where the club is based, in a case regarding alleged false accounting.
A criminal court hearing to decide whether to order a trial for Agnelli, 11 other people and the club itself started in March.
Juve have denied wrongdoing and said their accounting is in line with industry standards. REUTERS
