An Italian prosecutor is hoping to dock Juventus nine points in the Serie A standings because of the club’s false accounting allegations. Juve has been under investigation for months following accusations of shady financial irregularities. The club is currently sitting third in the Italian top flight standings, 10 points behind league leaders Napoli. A nine-point […]
An Italian prosecutor is hoping to dock Juventus nine points in the Serie A standings because of the club’s false accounting allegations. Juve has been under investigation for months following accusations of shady financial irregularities.
The club is currently sitting third in the Italian top flight standings, 10 points behind league leaders Napoli. A nine-point deduction would take Juve out of a Champions League place.
Bans for execs are also on the table
According to Reuters, the prosecutor has also asked for bans for Juve executives to go along with the point deduction. Giuseppe Chine, the prosecutor involved in the case, wants former team chairman Andrea Agnelli to serve a 16-month ban. This would bar Agnelli from holding office for any Italian club during this timeframe.
Chine also asked for a 20-month ban for Fabio Paratici as well. Paratici was previously Juve’s sporting director. The Italian is now, however, the managing director of football at Tottenham Hotspur. Paratici helped bring Antonio Conte to Spurs only a few months after he arrived in north London. During his first season with the Premier League side, Paratici brought in three former Juve players to Spurs.
Juventus points deduction possible
A majority of the case is essentially down to player valuations and transfer fees between clubs. Capital gains on selling a player typically go directly to a team’s account books. However, the purchase price of a player can be spread out over the duration of their contract.
Team’s entire board resigned in November
News broke back in November that the entire Juve board resigned while the investigation continued. Agnelli, along with vice president Pavel Nedved, were both involved in the walk out. A total of 15 officials working with the Italian club were named in the initial investigation.
Despite the mass resignation in recent months, Juve have maintained their innocence. The Old Lady has claimed that their accounting aligned with other similar clubs in the sport.
Juve, along with the other clubs involved in the scandal, will be able to tell the court their side of the story on Friday. The court will then issue a verdict on the case.
Photo: Imago