Juventus was punished with the loss of 15 points in the Italian Championship by the country’s Sports Justice due to tax fraud in the signing of athletes, announced this Friday (20) the FIGC (Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio, the Italian football federation).
The Turin club had been acquitted along with ten other entities last year, but the FIGC’s Court of Appeal accepted the request of the federal prosecutor to reopen the case due to the elements transmitted by the Justice of Italy, which also investigates Juventus accounts, according to a statement from the federation.
The club denied wrongdoing and said its accounting was in line with industry standards.
With 20 games left this season, Juventus are third in the Serie A, ten points behind leaders Napoli. The points reduction would push them into the middle of the table, outside the European competition places, with 22 points. Verona, first team in the relegation zone, has nine.
The decision is tougher than a nine-point deduction that a soccer promoter had asked for during a hearing into the way Juventus and several other teams handled player swap deals.
The football court also ruled that former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli be banned from holding posts in Italian football for 24 months.
It also decided a 30-month suspension for former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now managing director of football at Tottenham Hotspur, a Premier League club in England.
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