An Italian soccer court looking into Juventus’ transfer activities has docked the team 15 points for the current campaign, according to a statement from the national soccer organization (FIGC).
The decision, which hurts the club’s reputation as well, is more severe than the nine-point reduction a soccer prosecutor had asked for at a hearing earlier in the day regarding the manner Juventus and a few other teams handled player exchange arrangements.
Juve was third in Serie A with 37 points after 20 games this season, 10 points behind champions Napoli. They drop to 10th place as a result of the deduction, outside of the spots necessary to qualify for lucrative European play.
The court also barred 11 former and present Juventus directors from holding office in Italian soccer in a late-night statement.
These included 30 months for former sports director Fabio Paratici, who is currently managing director of football at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, and 24 months for Andrea Agnelli, who was officially replaced as chairman last week after stepping down in November.
Once the ruling’s justifications were made public, Juventus declared that it will file an appeal with the nation’s sports guarantee authority.
“We believe this to be a flagrant injustice also for millions of fans,” the club’s attorneys said in a statement. “We trust that this will soon be addressed in the next court.”
Juventus has asserted that its accounting complied with industry norms and denied any misconduct.
The judgement overturned one made in April that exonerated Juventus, 10 other teams, and their management from wrongdoing.
In order to review fresh evidence gathered by public prosecutors in the city of Turin who are looking into Juventus’ finances, football officials reopened the case and asked that portions of the original ruling be overturned.
The court upheld the dismissal of prosecutors’ requests to revive the case against eight additional soccer organizations, including Serie A teams Sampdoria and Empoli, and their directors.
Agnelli, 11 more individuals, and the club itself have all been called before the Turin public prosecutors on charges of false accounting.
