(Rome) Juventus Turin received a new 10-point penalty on Monday, after the initial 15-point penalty for accounting fraud was lowered, which complicates its chances of playing in the next Champions League.
This new penalty, pronounced Monday by the Court of Appeal of the Italian Football Federation, moves Juventus from 2nd to 7th place in the Serie A standings, five points from the last qualifying place for the Champions League occupied by AC Milan (4th).
The Bianconeri can however come back to within two points of the Rossoneri in the event of success in Empoli on Monday evening, and this before facing the Milanese next Sunday, which maintains their chances.
These ten penalty points are to be counted “in the current season”, according to the judgment communicated by the Italian Football Federation.
The court was a little more lenient than the request of the federal prosecutor, who had requested Monday morning 11 withdrawal points during the hearing to review this penalty.
This same federal court of appeal had inflicted in January, a withdrawal of 15 points to Juve because of capital gains deemed artificial during certain sales of players. But she was called to reassess her sanction in April by the Guarantee College of the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), seized by the Turin club.
This college, the highest level of sports justice in Italy, had confirmed a “voluntary and repeated alteration of accounting entries” by Juve. But he had suspended the sanction by asking that the individual responsibilities of certain Turin leaders be clarified, including former vice-president Pavel Nedved.
The latter was acquitted during this new hearing.
The Bianconeri can seize the Guarantee College again, which could extend this extra-sporting soap opera beyond the season, which ends on June 4.
