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Juventus has been penalised 10 points in a fresh verdict by the Italian football federation’s appeals court after an inquiry into the club’s transfer dealings discovered evidence of misleading accounting.
Zebre has dropped from second to seventh in Serie A as a result of the judgment, making it exceedingly improbable that they will qualify for the Champions League.
Juventus lost 15 points in January, and several of its previous board of directors, including former president Andrea Agnelli, were forbidden from participating in sports.
The points punishment was halted last month following an appeal to the country’s top sports court, the Italian Olympic Committee, and directed back to the football federation’s appeals court for a fresh trial.
Giuseppe Chiné, the federation prosecutor, recommended an 11-point punishment for Juventus during a three-hour hearing on Monday. He had requested nine in January. Chiné also sought eight-month suspensions for seven former Juventus executives, including Pavel Nedvd, but they were all cleared on Monday. Last month, Agnelli and three others had their appeals denied.
Following an inquiry by Turin public prosecutors into alleged dishonest accounting, the Juventus board resigned en masse in November. Following information from the Turin prosecutors, a trial was reopened, resulting in the points deduction. The sports court had first cleared Juventus the previous April.
Juventus received a 10-point deduction in the transfer case
Prosecutors in Turin have also charged Juventus, Agnelli, and 11 others with making false claims by a firm listed publicly on the Milan stock exchange, hindering watchdog agencies, false billing, and market manipulation.
Last Monday, the Italian football association punished Juventus and seven former team officials with suspected fraud in connection with how they handled player compensation cutbacks during the coronavirus outbreak.
Juventus Football Club said in a statement that it “takes note of the ruling by the FIGC Court of Appeal and reserves the right to read the reasons in order to assess a potential appeal to the Guarantee Board at CONI.”
“What was established by the fifth instance of judgment in this case, which started more than a year ago, causes great resentment in the club and its millions of supporters, who, in the absence of clear rules, find themselves severely punished with the imposition of sanctions that appear to take the principle of proportionality into account.”
While Juventus has never shied away from the gravity of the situation during the processes, it is stressed that these are facts that still need to be examined by a court.
