The court accused Juventus of fictitious increase in the cost of players

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) Court of Appeal today justified the sanctions against Juventus for increasing the market value of its players in order to benefit more from their subsequent sale.

This technique, which the Turin club has resorted to, creates a fictitious added value that allowed the organization to balance its balance sheets for at least three years (2019, 2020 and 2021), thereby cutting losses without recapitalizing and strengthening the team without seeing a salary. cover below.

“Juve committed a sporting disciplinary offence, given the seriousness, repetitive and long-term nature of the offence,” the FIGC explained in a 36-page report.

In the same text, he explains that Juventus was found guilty “in view of the documentation seized from the directors, unequivocal wiretapping (telephone wiretaps) and subsequent evidence related to concealment of documentation and even manipulation of accounts.”

The court retained the sanctions imposed on the leaders involved, including Andrea Agnelli. [ex-presidente do Conselho Diretivo] (two years of suspension), as well as the acquittal of the eight other clubs involved (Sampdoria, Pro Vercelli, Genoa, Parma, Pisa, Empoli, Novara and Pescara) and their respective directors and coaches.

“The omnipresence at all levels of awareness of the artificiality of the “mode of action” of the company itself is impressive: from the then sports director (Paratici) to his direct employee (Cherubini) or from the chairman of the board of the Director (Agnelli) to the director – (Arrivabene),” the FIGC report notes.

The name of the Juventus coach, Italian Massimiliano Allegri, also appears in the report as well-informed about the club’s practices, but to a lesser extent, acting “in good faith”.

“In some cases, they acted with a global awareness of the artificiality of the operations being carried out. In other cases, with a more superficial conscience, and maybe even in good faith. [referindo-se a Allegri]but in any case, it is concluded that everyone was directly or indirectly aware of the situation, which is now out of control”, can still be read in the document.

An Italian club now has 30 days to apply to the Italian Olympic Committee’s (CONI) Collegium of Sports Guarantees, the country’s third and final court of sports justice.

Juventus are also being investigated for a possible case of tax fraud as they ensured they negotiated a pay cut for their players to ease the economic situation caused by the pandemic, but prosecutors found that the agreement was not a resignation. salary, but with a deferred payment for three of the four agreed months (from March to June 2020).

The payment is not included in this year’s fiscal year, so the public ministry considers it a crime of tax fraud.

Italian justice has penalized Juventus with 15 deductible points this edition of Serie A following an investigation into alleged financial irregularities in recruiting players during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The FIGC demanded a nine-point penalty, but the Federal Court of Appeal went further and imposed a severe penalty on the Turin team, which meant that the Turin team dropped from their third-place finish with 37 points to first place. 11th, from 22.