Juventus has been docked 15 Serie A points for purported accounting errors and financial irregularities, while Tottenham’s head of transfers Fabio Paratici has been given a 30-month suspension from Italian football as punishment.
The two-and-a-half-year ban for Juve’s former sporting director Paratici, who is now managing director of football at Spurs, includes a request for an extension to cover UEFA and FIFA activities.
The Italian national football federation’s (FIGC) decision means Juventus will plunge from third to 10th place in the Serie A table, outside the spots for European competition.
Juve indicated on Friday night that they are waiting for the written reasons behind the sanctions but will launch an appeal.
Moreover, Former vice-president Pavel Nedved has been given an eight-month ban, while former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene has also been hit with a ban.
The Old Lady has denied wrongdoing and said their accounting was in line with industry standards.
Press release.
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) January 20, 2023
Why does Juve find itself in hot water again?
Juventus lied
The Old Lady lied to financial officials in an attempt to save money by inflating players’ transfer values, saving the club millions in player salaries and transfer budgets.
Irregular players swapping
Prosecutors took issue with a number of irregularities stemming from player transactions, including the now infamous player swap with Barcelona that sent Arthur to Juventus and Miralem Pjanic to Barcelona. In total, 62 transfers were inspected, of which 42 involved Juventus.
Falsified figures as players’ salaries
The club was also in the spotlight for claiming to have saved €90 million (£78m/$97m) in player salaries back in 2020, helping the club’s value stay steady on the stock market.
Management massive resignation
The Juventus board, including president Andrea Agnelli and vice-president Pavel Nedved, resigned from their posts in November after authorities raised suspicions of a number of financial violations, including wage reductions during the COVID-19 pandemic and unusual transfer deals in which player values were inflated.
Point reduction and absolute suspension of board members
As well as the 15 points deduction, board members past and present have been hit with suspensions by the FIGC. Among those is current Tottenham director Fabio Paratici, who has been handed a 30-month suspension.
