football team from Italy Juventus is assessed a penalty point.
36-times record Italian champions will drop from third to tenth and might not play in European football the following year.
Juventus, the most illustrious football team in Italy, has been assessed a severe 15-point penalty for incorrect accounting during an appeals process at the Italian football federation.
Juventus was charged with exploiting capital gains—the positive difference between purchase and sell prices after deducting amortization and write-downs—from a number of player trades in which little or no money changed hands between teams.
The sports court first exonerated the team in April of last year after it had claimed misconduct. However, an appeal was filed after the federation obtained documents from the Turin prosecutors related to a different criminal probe into Juventus’ financial situation.
Juventus, the 36-time reigning Italian champions, were third in Serie A with 37 points after 20 games this season, 10 points off of league-leading Napoli.
The punishment, which was issued on Friday, drops them to 10th and might prevent them from competing in Europe the following year.
In a trade between Juventus and Barcelona that has received a lot of attention, Miralem Pjanic went to Catalonia, and Arthur Melo went the opposite way in 2020.
Additionally, it appears that other suspected covert payments to former player Cristiano Ronaldo that were not disclosed by the club have been found by Turin prosecutors.
11 former and present Juventus directors were also prohibited by the court from holding office in Italian football.
These included 24 months for Andrea Agnelli, who was officially succeeded as chairman by Gianluca Ferrero this week after stepping down in November, and 30 months for Fabio Paratici, a former director of sports who is currently managing director of football at English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
Juventus and the former members of the club’s board will be put on trial for alleged false accounting after a preliminary hearing in March.
The club is owned by the Exor holding company, whose shares are traded on the Milan Stock Exchange. The Agnelli family controls Exor. Juventus has stated its accounting was in accordance with industry standards and denied any misconduct.
Lawyers representing the club released a statement in which they said, “We believe this to be a flagrant injustice also for millions of fans, which we trust will be addressed shortly in the next court.”
They declared that after the decision’s justifications were made public, they will file an appeal with the nation’s Sport Guarantee Board.
A further blow to the club’s finances, which last season were about 239 million euros ($260 million) in the red, would be missing out on Europe’s top and richest club championship.
Eight further soccer teams, including Serie A’s Sampdoria and Empoli, as well as their directors, were found not guilty by the court, despite prosecutors’ efforts to revive the case against them.
The incident that led to Juventus’ demotion to Serie B and the loss of two Serie A championships, known as “Calciopoli,” occurred 17 years before to the penalty.
