Juventus fails to raise its head this season. Beyond the poor sporting results, the Federal Court of Appeals has once again sanctioned the club with the withdrawal of 10 points in the current classification for the so-called capital gains case, in which the Italian club is accused of increasing the market value of footballers to generate more income in their transfers. Juventus had already been sanctioned with the withdrawal of 15 points, a sanction that they had managed to dodge with an appeal in the first instance. A blow that plunges the team further into the standings and seals one of the worst seasons in its recent history.
Juventus, it is now considered proven, altered its accounts through accounting tricks that attributed to players that it exchanged with other clubs a value above the market. The capital gains, then, were fictitious and fraudulent. For this reason, several managers have also been sanctioned, including the one who was president of the club in recent seasons, Andrea Agnelli. The sanction will now alter the classification and inevitably distances the Turin from the European positions in the table.
The club had been accused along with other clubs, such as Napoli, of increasing the market value of players to generate more income by transferring them, thus achieving unrealistic capital gains. The tax ruse -used in 22 operations- allowed the club fictitious capital gains in the 20-21 financial year and the 2021 quarterly. In this way, it was able to reduce losses, not recapitalize and, incidentally, reinforce the team with signings such as by Cristiano Ronaldo.
One of the most important operations was carried out with FC Barcelona and consisted of exchanging Pjanic for the Brazilian Arthur, which also served to balance the accounts of the Catalan club. Another of the movements being investigated is the exchange of Cancelo for Danilo with Manchester City, which provided the Turinese with a capital gain of about 30 million euros. But the operations were also carried out with Italian clubs. In 2021, for example, Nicolò Rovella went from Genoa to Juventus for 18 million euros. But from the Liguria club Manolo Portanova and Elia Petrelli arrived for 10 and eight million, respectively. A play that gave a capital gain of 18 million to each team.
The FIGC prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné, who has been handling the case since the beginning of 2022, requested this morning before the Court of Appeals the withdrawal of 10 points from Juventus in the Italian competition. The decision, on which there is still room for appeal, has been a mace in the club, which was preparing to play its game against Empoli. “Called by the Guarantee College of the Italian Olympic Committee to reformulate its assessment of the sanction imposed on Juventus in its day for the so-called capital gains case, the Federal Court of Appeal has sanctioned the Juventus club with ten penalty points in the classification to comply in the current sports season”, communicated the Italian Football Federation.
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