Juventus: Court of Appeals explain 15-point deduction
By Tom Gott
The Italian FA's Court of Appeals has confirmed Juventus were hit with a 15-point deduction because of the severity of their financial infractions.
Juve were docked 15 points following an investigation into their financial records over the past few seasons, with the Bianconeri accused of inflating their transfer profits and misreporting their wages to avoid financial punishments.
The court ruled in a statement that Juventus were found to "have committed a sporting disciplinary offence, taking into account the seriousness and the repeated and prolonged nature of the violation".
With wire-tap investigations and other interviews revealing evidence which was not present in the first proceedings against the club, in which Juve were acquitted, the court has ruled that such a serious punishment was needed.
The court used "documentation from the club’s directors, with confessional value and from the relative manuscripts, the unequivocal interceptions and the further evidence relating to the concealment of documentation or even manipulation of invoices".
The statement continued: "As far as the sanction is concerned, the Court has taken into account the particular gravity and the repeated and prolonged nature of the violation and the intensity and diffusion of awareness of the situation in the conversations between the managers of FC Juventus S.p.A.
"In the face of a picture of the facts radically different due to the impressive amount of documents received from the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office that highlighted the intentionality underlying the alteration of the transfer operations and the relative values."
Juventus' punishments may not be done there as they are still under investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office over an alleged secret salary agreement with their players.
The Serie A side are accused of claiming to save money on salaries during the Covid-19 pandemic but continuing to pay players in full without declaring those amounts.