On Thursday (April 20, 2023), Italy’s highest sports tribunal suspended the deduction of 15 points against record champions Juventus Turin. The judges at the National Olympic Committee CONI ruled that the case must be reassessed.
This means that Juve has jumped back to third place behind SSC Napoli and Lazio Rome in Serie A, at least temporarily, and can hope for a return to the Champions League make.
However, the people of Turin now have to face the new decision of the Court of Appeal of the Italian Football Association FIGC wait and see who issued the original penalty.
Reason for the penalty: Artificial improvement of the balance sheet
The old lady Juventus was penalized with a point deduction at the end of January. The club is said to have used transfers to artificially improve its balance sheet.
According to several Italian media outlets, the decision paves the way for a possible reduction in the points deducted from Juve. Without a deduction, the traditional club would be on course with 59 points behind Naples (75) and Lazio (61) – with a deduction, however, only in seventh place.
Blocks against Agnelli and Co. remain in place
Juve had previously called for the sanction to be lifted in full. But that didn’t happen: the long-standing bans of former club president Andrea Agnelli, former manager Maurizio Arrivabene and sporting directors Federico Cherubini and Fabio Paratici were upheld.
Juventus are also currently facing problems from UEFA. The European Football Union is also examining the Italians’ finances. The suspicion is that the club paid some of its professionals black in the corona pandemic and thus did not properly book millions of euros more.
The fans had recently reacted outraged to the punishment. Before the first home game after the sanction was imposed, there were loud whistles against the Serie A anthem. Banners criticizing the club president Andrea Agnelli, who has since resigned, were also rolled out. Agnelli gave up leadership of the club in January after 13 years.
Former Juventus President Andrea Agnelli
The grandstand lock against Juve had also been collected
The grandstand block against Juventus Turin was lifted on Wednesday after racist insults against Inter Milan player Romelu Lukaku. The Italian federation announced the decision. In the home game against leaders SSC Napoli on April 23, Juventus can use their stadium to capacity. Juventus immediately started ticket sales.
The club had been sentenced to the partial exclusion because parts of the Juventus fans had racially insulted Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan during the first leg of the cup semifinals when he scored a penalty in added time to make it 1-1.
A sector in the Turin Arena, which can accommodate around 5,000 supporters, should therefore have remained empty against SSC Napoli. An Appeals Chamber of the Sports Court of the Italian Federation FIGC decided to repeal without giving reasons.