An Italian prosecutor hopes to drop Juventus by nine points in the Serie A standings because of the club’s false accounting allegations. Juve have been under investigation for months following allegations of suspected financial irregularities.
The club currently sits third in the Italian top flight standings, 10 points behind league leaders Napoli. A nine-point deduction would knock Juve out of a Champions League spot.
Bans for executives are also on the table
According to Reuters, the prosecutor has also called for prohibitions for Juve executives to join the deduction of points. Giuseppe Chine, the prosecutor involved in the case, wants former team president Andrea Agnelli to serve a 16-month ban. This would bar Agnelli from holding a position at any Italian club during this time period.
Chine also requested a 20-month suspension for Fabio Paratici. Paratici was previously Juve’s sporting director. The Italian is now, however, Tottenham Hotspur’s general director of football. Paratici helped bring Antonio Conte to Spurs just months after his arrival in north London. During his first season with the Premier League side, Paratici signed three former Juve players to Spurs.
Possible Juventus points deduction
Most of the case is essentially due to player ratings and transfer fees between clubs. Capital gains from the sale of a player generally go directly to a team’s books. However, the purchase price of a player may be spread over the duration of his contract.
The team’s entire board of directors resigned in November.
News broke in November that the entire Juve board of directors resigned while the investigation continued. Agnelli, together with Vice President Pavel Nedved, participated in the strike. A total of 15 officials working with the Italian club were named in the initial investigation.
Despite the massive resignation in recent months, Juve has maintained its innocence. The Old Lady have claimed that their accounting fell in line with that of other similar clubs in the sport.
Juve, along with the other clubs involved in the scandal, will be able to tell the court their version of events on Friday. The court will then render a verdict on the case.
Photo: Imago
