Juventus’ troubled begin to the brand new yr slipped into catastrophe on Friday after the Italian Football Federation docked the Serie A giants 15 factors for utilizing transfers to artificially enhance their stability sheet.
The FIGC mentioned in a press release that the factors sanction was to be inflicted this season, an enormous blow to Juve whose probabilities of qualifying for subsequent season’s Champions League at the moment are enormously compromised.
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Juve drop down from third to tenth place on simply 22 factors, 15 from the highest 4 positions in Italy’s prime flight.
Missing out on Europe’s prime — and richest — membership competitors can be an additional blow to the membership’s accounts which final season have been practically 239 million euros within the purple.
Juve’s present sporting director Federico Cherubini was additionally banned for 16 months, one other critical punishment which Juve mentioned in a press release they’d attraction on the Italian Olympic Committee.
The membership’s former management have been additionally handed lengthy bans by the FIGC together with two years to ex-chairman Andrea Agnelli and former CEO Maurizio Arrivabene and 30 months to former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now at Tottenham Hotspur.
The FIGC additionally mentioned that it had requested that the bans — which additionally included eight months for former vice-president and taking part in icon Pavel Nedved — be prolonged past Italy to the jurisdictions of worldwide governing our bodies UEFA and FIFA.
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All eight different golf equipment dealing with potential FIGC sanctions, together with Serie A groups Sampdoria and Empoli, have been acquitted, one thing Juve’s authorized staff referred to as “a transparent injustice”.
They have been accused of utilizing capital beneficial properties — the optimistic distinction between buy and sale values internet of amortisation and write-downs — from a sequence of participant exchanges wherein little or no cash handed between golf equipment.
One widely-cited deal was between Juve and Barcelona in 2020 which noticed Miralem Pjanic transfer to Catalonia and Arthur Melo go the opposite method.
Arthur was valued at 72 million euros and Pjanic 60 million euros, sums each golf equipment may instantly e-book on their stability sheets whereas the price of purchases could be unfold over the size of a participant’s contract.
Juve recorded a capital acquire of 43 million euros on Pjanic, the second highest within the membership’s historical past.
The determination to dock Juve factors got here because the FIGC reopened a trial which had ended final yr with Juve and a bunch of different golf equipment together with Serie A leaders Napoli being acquitted.
It follows new proof from a separate felony probe into Juve’s funds performed by prosecutors in Turin.
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Juve will know after a preliminary listening to in March in the event that they and the previous members of the membership’s board will stand felony trial over alleged false accounting.
Agnelli and the remainder of the Juve board stepped down in November beneath stress from the felony investigation, with a brand new board led by Gianluca Ferrero being appointed earlier this week.
The new board will stay in workplace till the shareholders’ assembly for the approval of Juve’s accounts as of 30 June 2025.
Agnelli’s departure ended a 12-year reign which introduced a bunch of trophies and for a interval re-established Juventus as considered one of Europe’s greatest groups however resulted in turmoil.
Last month UEFA mentioned it had opened a proper investigation into whether or not Juventus had misled them and damaged guidelines concerning their funds.