With the announcement that every member of the Juventus board has resigned, Italian football has been rocked.
On November 28, Juventus formally announced the resignations of its president Andrea Agnelli, CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, vice president Pavel Nedved, and the remainder of the board.
Their resignations are connected to an investigation into financial fraud and mismanagement at Juventus.
What is Juventus accused of?
The two primary alleged crimes Juventus is under investigation for are as follows.
The Turin juggernaut is first being investigated for a series of moves between 2018 and 2020. It is suspected that the transfer fees’ values were inflated for capital gains.
One instance was the double agreement in the summer of 2020, in which Arthur Melo moved in the opposite direction from Barcelona to Juventus and Miralem Pjanic moved in the opposite direction.
Pjanic, who was already 30 then, was formally acquired by Barcelona for €60 million. Arthur, meanwhile, paid €72 million to join Juventus. These payments, it is claimed, were inflated to allow both teams to record capital gains on their books.
Numerous additional Juventus-related transactions, such as the 2019 Danilo-Joao Cancelo trade with Manchester City, have been looked into.
Juventus’ second accusation is tax fraud during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Similar to many other clubs, Juventus suffered significantly financially during COVID. As a result, 23 Juventus players consented to forego or cut four months of their 2020 wages to aid the team in getting through the crisis.
The Turin Prosecutor is looking into claims that Juventus players skipped one month’s payment rather than giving up on all four. The remaining three months, it is believed, were instead paid to them in “black money,” which means neither the club nor the players paid taxes on it.
Juventus is claimed to have fabricated its salary bill and accounting records to balance the books.
For clarification, Juventus are being investigated in a capital gain case, inflating transfer fees to balance the books
However there is also claims Juve secretly paid their players who were supposedly forgoing large portions of the salary due to the pandemic at the time.
— Mina Rzouki (@Minarzouki) November 28, 2022
UEFA open investigation into Juventus over alleged FFP breaches
Due to charges of financial impropriety, which resulted in the resignation of the club’s entire board of directors, UEFA has officially announced that they have launched an inquiry against Juventus.
“Juventus FC is the subject of a formal inquiry by the CFCB First Chamber investigating possible violations of the rules governing club licencing and financial fair play,” according to a statement.
“The Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) and the public prosecutor in Turin are leading the proceedings that are the subject of the CFCB First Chamber investigation, which will concentrate on the alleged financial irregularities that were just recently made public.”
UEFA announce Club Financial Control Body First Chamber opens investigation into Juventus. ? #SerieA
“CFCB First Chamber has opened a formal investigation into Juventus FC for potential breaches of the Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play regulations”, statement reports. pic.twitter.com/bgNWY8YLAd
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 1, 2022
A Leaked phone call
Juventus is in problem for alleged capital gains, which prompted the resignation of the club’s former president and the entire board.
According to Football Italia, an intercepted phone call between Agnelli and John Elkann, the head of Exor, reveals that Agnelli was aware of the situation from the beginning.
The CEO of Exor was advised by Agnelli that “we have always taken risks, and the board has always been informed that they have been taken, and corrections have always been identified along the way,” according to the report.
“Yes, but as you recall, I told you that, ultimately, there was an expansion on the part of the sporting management,” he retorted.
“The excessive use of the capital gains instrument,” he continued, “if the market collapses on you, the market collapses on you! This is true.”
How Spurs official Fabio Paratici is linked to Juventus scandal
Fabio Paratici, the director of Tottenham’s football team, is reportedly one among the 13 individuals who prosecutors will charge in Turin concerning the continuing scandal at Juventus.
Since joining Spurs, Paratici has brought players like Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, and manager Antonio Conte.
Paratici worked as the sporting director for Juventus for 11 years until relocating to London in 2021.
According to a report by Football Italia, documents in the authorities’ possession revealed that the value inflations were handled by the previous director Fabio Paratici.
He further said in one of the journals that financial gains would be difficult for prosecutors to prove because player valuations are intangible.
How serious is the scandal for Juventus? Could Juventus be relegated?
The severity of the penalties, should Juventus be found guilty of the charges, cannot yet be determined.
Many analysts have drawn comparisons to the Calciopoli affair from 2006, in which the team was demoted to Serie B and denied two Scudetti after officials were found guilty of meddling in referee selections.
The whole Juventus board resigned in 2006 before the Calciopoli scandal broke out.
With numerous arrests and potential criminal charges, people involved in this particular case could face significant ramifications.
It remains to be seen if Juventus will eventually face sporting sanctions.
