In Turin, hopes of playing the next Champions League are dwindling. This Monday, the Italian Football Federation Court of Appeal officially dropped Juventus from 2nd to 7th place in the Serie A standings with a withdrawal of 10 points (59 to 69 points). Juventus would therefore be five points from the last qualifying place for the Champions League occupied by AC Milan (4th).
The Bianconeri can however come back to within two points of the Rossoneri in the event of success in Empoli on Monday evening, and this before facing the Milanese next Sunday, which maintains their chances. But beyond Milan, it is also Atalanta which now stands in front of Massimiliano Allegri’s players with a small point ahead of the old lady’s club in the standings.
These ten penalty points are to be counted “in the current season”, according to the judgment communicated by the Italian Football Federation. The court was a little more lenient than the request of the federal prosecutor, who had requested Monday morning 11 withdrawal points during the hearing to review this penalty.
This same federal appeals court had inflicted in January, a withdrawal of 15 points to Juve because of capital gains deemed artificial during certain sales of players. But she was called to reassess her sanction in April by the Guarantee College of the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni), seized by the Turin club.
This college, the highest degree of sports justice in Italy, had confirmed a “voluntary and repeated alteration of accounting entries” on the part of Juve. But he had suspended the sanction by asking that the individual responsibilities of certain Turin leaders be clarified, including former vice-president Pavel Nedved.
The Bianconeri can again seize the Guarantee College, which could extend this extra-sporting soap opera beyond the season, which ends on June 4.
