Juventus has been deducted 15 points for the current season by an Italian soccer court investigating its transfer dealings, the national soccer federation (FIGC) said Friday.
Once again a club that did its best to get away from the “Calciopoli” scandal and others in the past is once again in the headlines for the wrong reasons. It seems the prosecutor had requested to look at how Juventus and several other teams dealt with player exchange deals.
Juventus were third in Serie A with 37 points at the time when the punishment was announced, 10 behind leaders Napoli but this now plummets them down into 10th place, outside the European qualifying spots.
The court also imposed bans from holding office in Italian soccer on 11 past and present Juventus directors. These included 24 months for Andrea Agnelli, who was replaced this week as Chairman after formally stepping down in November, and 30 months for former sports director Fabio Paratici, now Managing Director of football at England’s Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
Juventus as expected will attempt to appeal the decisions and have denied all wrongdoing.
“We consider this to be a blatant injustice also for millions of fans, which we trust will soon be remedied in the next court,” lawyers for the club said in a statement.
The ruling reversed a previous decision in April to clear Juventus, 10 other clubs and their executives of wrongdoing.
Soccer authorities had reopened the case and requested the partial cancellation of the initial decision so they could assess new documents collected by public prosecutors in the city of Turin, who are investigating the finances of Juventus.
The court confirmed the acquittal of eight other soccer clubs, including Serie A’s Sampdoria and Empoli, and their directors, for whom prosecutors had also wanted to reopen the case.
Public prosecutors in Turin have requested Agnelli, 11 other people and the club itself to stand trial over allegations of false accounting.
What does this mean for Juventus? A club that has tried desperately to distance itself from the scandal of 2006 is now, once again in a place where no club would ever want to be in. Sadly this is not the first time.
Author – Andre Sooklal
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