Juventus given 15-point penalty following plusvalenza case appeal (UPDATED)

The first of potentially many hammers has dropped for Juventus, with the club’s new board being handed a massive uphill battle just days after their official introduction in their new roles.

The Federal Court of Appeal has handed down a 15-point penalty to Juventus — effective immediately — as a result of the accepting the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office appeal to the original verdict regarding last spring’s plusvalenza investigation. Earlier in the day, Juve were at risk of some sort of points penalty, but nearly of that kind of magnitude, with the FIGC Prosecutor’s Office — namely FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné — proposing a nine-point penalty if the FIGC’s appeal into the club’s false account verdict from this past May was approved and the case reopened.

The subsequent trial will begin on Feb. 22, according to Sky Italia’s Gianluca Di Marzio.

The other eight clubs who were involved in the capital gains investigation were acquitted.

Juventus announced in a club statement later Friday night that the club will appeal the point penalty that saw the Bianconeri suddenly drop from third place to in a tie for 11th place with Bologna and Empoli on 22 points to CONI’s Collegio di Garanzia. Juve continued to be steadfast in the club’s innocence, arguing the original verdict cleared it of any wrongdoing as well as confirming it will appeal the 15-point penalty.

The club statement reads as follows:

Juventus Football Club S.p.A. (“Juventus” or the “Company”) informs that the Federal Court of Appeal, Unified Sections, having regard to the appeal for revocation pursuant to Article 63 of the Sport Justice Code brought by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, declared the appeal for revocation admissible and thus revoked the decision of the Federal Court of Appeals, Unified Sections, No. 0089/CFA2021-2022 of 27 May 2022 and, as a result, ordered the penalty of 15 points in the standing for Juventus to be deducted in the current Sport Season and the temporary inhibition for the Sporting Director, Federico Cherubini, from carrying out activities in the FIGC context for 16 months, with a request for extension in the UEFA and FIFA contexts.

Pursuant to the revoked decision, the Federal Court of Appeals had rejected the appeal (“reclamo”) brought by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office against the decision of the National Federal Court, which, in turn, had acquitted Juventus and the other parties charged for because of the lack of any disciplinary offence with regard to the evaluation of the effects of certain transfers of players’ rights on financial statements and the accounting of capital gains.

The Company awaits the publication of the reasons of the decision and announces as of now the bringing of an appeal to the Sport Guarantee Board (Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport) in accordance with the terms of the Sport Justice Code.

Former Juventus President Andrea Agnelli — who was the leading name in the entire board of directors resigning just days into the World Cup break — was one of a handful of front office members to receive suspensions in the wake of the capital gains investigation and the reversal of the initial verdict. Agnelli and former Juve CEO Maurizio Arrivabene have both been handed a two-year ban by the Court of Appeals, while former Juventus Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici — now at Tottenham — received a ban of 2 ¹⁄₂ years, although it is unclear how a suspension of that length would be applied to somebody no longer working in Italy. Former Juve VP Pavel Nedved received an eight-month ban.

All of these suspensions could very well be extended to the UEFA and FIFA levels, thus making things rather serious for Paratici, the only person of the aforementioned group who is currently employed by a club.

All of this comes to close a marathon Friday that began with Chiné requesting a nine-point penalty for Juventus that would potentially go into effect this season as well as proposing the following penalties for some of the members involved in the investigation:

• A 16-month suspension for Agnelli.
• A suspension of 20 months and 10 days for Paratici.
• A 10-month suspension for current Juventus sporting director Federico Cherubini.
• A 12-month suspension for all other the former board members who recently stepped down, a group that includes Nedved and Arrivabene.
• For the other clubs involved in the case — Empoli, Genoa, Sampdoria, Parma, Pisa, Pescara, Novara and Pro Vercelli — fines were recommended.

All of this stems from the FIGC’s decision to circle back and appeal the verdict that was handed down last spring involving the plusvalenza investigation in Juventus. The basis behind the FIGC prosecutor’s request to reopen the case originally started by the Turin Prosecutor’s Office had to do with new evidence brought to light involving those listed above, namely Cherubini and Paratici.