Juventus’ 15-point penalty over transfer dealings has been reversed, leading to the club moving up from seventh to third in the Serie A table. The case will now return to the Italian Football Federation appeals court, the body which gave the initial punishment. As a result of the decision, AC Milan are knocked out of the Champions League places while Roma drop to fourth. Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici lost his appeal against a 30-month ban as part of the same proceedings. Paratici, former president Andrea Agnelli, former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and sports director Federico Cherubini had their appeals rejected, while former player and director Pavel Nedved, Paolo Garimberti and Enrico Vellano were successful with their appeals.
The Old Lady were handed a points deduction after an investigation into the club’s past transfer dealings spanning two years from 2019 to 2021 by Italian football’s governing body (FIGC). Juventus were accused of fixing their balance sheets by artificial gains of around 60m euros from club transfers, charges they were found guilty of by the FIGC’s appeals court in January. The club, however, denied any wrongdoing and took their case to a tribunal at the Olympic Committee, Italy’s highest sporting court. The tribunal did not rule on the merits of the case but instead examined the legal legitimacy of the punishments handed out by the FIGC to the club and directors.
Agnelli and the rest of the club’s board, including former midfielder Nedved, stepped down in November while the investigation was taking place. At the time, a statement said the resignations were “considered to be in the best social interest to recommend that Juventus equip itself with a new board of directors to address these issues”. Agnelli and Arrivabene were banned from Italian football for two years, with Nedved receiving an eight-month suspension. Cherubini and Paratici were suspended domestically for 16 months and two and a half years respectively. Paratici left the club to become managing director at Tottenham before January’s ruling but his suspension was extended worldwide by Fifa in March – a decision the 50-year-old is also appealing against. Juventus are also facing an investigation from Uefa over potential breaches of its club licensing and financial fair play regulations, which was announced last month.