Juventus deducted 15 points for current Serie A season

Juventus have been deducted 15 points for the current Serie A season after a case around alleged inflated transfer fees was reopened by an Italian court.

The Italian side have said they will appeal the decision after they dropped down to 10th in the Serie A table.

Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has been banned for two years while Fabio Paratici, who is now employed as Tottenham’s managing director of football, has received a 30-month ban.

The ruling applies to within Italian football but the country’s football federation (FIGC) has asked for it to be extended to UEFA and FIFA.

Whether Paratici is able to work beyond Italy is unclear at this stage. Tottenham have yet to comment, while The Athletic has contacted UEFA and FIFA for a response.

In April last year, 59 executives and 11 clubs were cleared in the plusvalenze case.

An initial appeal lodged by the Italian Football Federation’s federal prosecutor Giuseppe Chine to have it reopened was subsequently turned down. But evidence gathered by prosecutors in Turin in a separate civil case known as the Prisma investigation prompted Chine to file another motion for the sporting case to be heard again.

Juventus were third in the table with 37 points from 18 games before the points deduction was made official on Friday evening.

Massimiliano Allegri’s side were just one point behind second-placed AC Milan and 10 behind leaders Napoli.

However, they have now moved down to 10th place with just 22 points.

Juventus deny any wrongdoing and maintain the club acted in line with the international practice in the football industry and market conditions.

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Club lawyers confirmed Juventus’ plan to appeal and described the ruling as a “blatant injustice”.

On the field, Allegri is preparing for a Serie A game against Atalanta on Sunday but was grilled on the subject by reporters at his pre-match press conference.

“After yesterday’s events we have to regroup and think only of matters on the pitch,” Allegri said. “The legal proceedings concern the company and there will be an appeal. The standings say that at the moment we have 22 points and we have to try to earn results and make up positions. I’m convinced the players will do everything to get the most out of the situation.”

He also insisted: “I am and will remain the Juventus coach.”

The Athletic’s Italian football correspondent James Horncastle:

The news that Juventus have been docked 15 points is bad for the club, and it’s bad for Serie A too, writes Jame

Regardless of who you support, this is no cause for celebration if you want the league to recover the ground lost and make up the revenue gap lurking behind the abyssal difference in competitiveness between it and the Premier League.

One of the reasons why Juventus’ downfall elicits so much shock is that Agnelli restored the club to greatness domestically and made them relevant again on the European stage.

For a fleeting moment, it felt like Serie A might actually be on its way back. How the optimism has faded in the near three years since the pandemic hit.

Read more below.

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(Photo: Getty Images)