Juventus appeal against 15-point deduction for illicit transfer activity is reversed

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Juventus’ 15-point penalty over transfer dealings has been reversed.

Italy’s highest sporting court says the case should be re-examined after Juve were accused of fixing balance sheets by artificial gains from transfers.

The lifting of the points deduction means Juventus move up from seventh to third in the Serie A table.

Rather than Juve being cleared, the case will now return to the Italian Football Federation appeals court, the body which gave the initial punishment.

As a result of the decision, with eight games to go in the season, AC Milan are knocked out of the Champions League places while Roma drop to fourth.

Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici lost his appeal against a 30-month ban as part of the same proceedings.

The former Juve sporting director was one of 11 directors at the club, either former or still in place at the time of the ruling, who were sanctioned.

Paratici, former president Andrea Agnelli, former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and sports director Federico Cherubini had their appeals rejected.

Former player and director Pavel Nedved, Paolo Garimberti and Enrico Vellano were successful with their appeals.

Why were Juventus docked 15 points?

The Old Lady were handed a points deduction after an investigation into the club’s past transfer dealings spanning two years from 2019 to 2021 by Italian football’s governing body (FIGC).

Juventus were accused of fixing their balance sheets by artificial gains of around 60m euros from club transfers, charges they were found guilty of by the FIGC’s appeals court in January.

The club, however, denied any wrongdoing and took their case to a tribunal at the Olympic Committee, Italy’s highest sporting court.

The tribunal did not rule on the merits of the case but instead examined the legal legitimacy of the punishments handed out by the FIGC to the club and directors.

Juventus were among several Serie A clubs acquitted of suspect transfer activity by an FIGC appeals court trial last year but the investigation into the club was reopened due to new evidence from a separate criminal probe into their finances.

The 15-point sanction was tougher than the nine-point deduction prosecutors had requested.