Juventus have been docked 15 points in Italian soccer's top-tier Serie A following an investigation into the club’s finances and accounting procedures.
The penalty was handed to the European heavyweights by the FIGC, the Italian federation, last Friday (January 20) in relation to past transfer dealings.
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Juventus were found guilty of false accounting (through the production of invoices from non-existent transactions) and market manipulation, with the Italian financial and markets regulator Consob having been investigating the club’s practices over the last year.
The Turin-based side had been in third place but the penalty momentarily dropped them down to 10th before they moved up to ninth with a draw against Atalanta yesterday (January 22).
The club’s board of directors, including long-serving president Andrea Agnelli and vice president Pavel Nedved, resigned in November. The board said it considered it in the best interests of the club “to recommend that Juventus equip itself with a new board of directors to address these issues.”
The team unveiled a new board last week with Gianluca Ferrero replacing Agnelli as president and Maurizio Scanavino being named as the club’s new general manager.
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By GlobalDataJuventus have denied any wrongdoing and confirmed they will appeal against the decision.
In a statement, the club said they "await the publication of the reasons of the decision" but have started bringing an appeal to the Sport Guarantee Board of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).
The FIGC's sanction is tougher than the nine-point deduction prosecutors had requested.
Juventus' lawyers said the sanctions "constitute a clear disparity of treatment against Juventus and its managers compared to any other company or member."
The club added: "We point out, as of now, that only Juventus and its managers are attributed the violation of a rule, that the same sports justice had repeatedly recognized that it did not exist.
"We believe that this is also a blatant injustice towards millions of fans, who we trust will soon be remedied in the next degree of judgment."
The Italian federation also handed two-year bans to Agnelli and the club's former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene, while current sports director Federico Cherubini has been given a 16-month ban.
In addition, Juventus’ former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now the managing director of football at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur, has been banned for 30 months.
A total of 11 former and current Juventus executives have received sanctions, with Nedved given an eight-month ban.
The FIGC says all the bans include a request for the sanction to be extended to UEFA and FIFA so it can be applied worldwide.
UEFA has additionally launched an investigation into Juventus for potential breaches of its Financial Fair Play regulations, focusing on the alleged financial violations.
Juventus won nine Serie A titles in a row during Agnelli's 13-year tenure, but finished fourth last season and posted a loss of €254 million ($263.2 million), a record figure in Italy. This followed a loss of €210 million in 2020-21.
Agnelli, who became Juventus’ president in 2010, was integral in the attempted creation in April 2021 of the breakaway, closed-tier, European Super League (ESL) competition, which only lasted a few days before being forced to shut down amid overwhelming opposition.
Indeed, Juventus are still signed up to the ESL, alongside Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Juventus have already been knocked out of this season’s financially lucrative UEFA Champions League at the initial group stage.
Image: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images
