By Victor Kanayo
Italian club giants Juventus are now back to grooving status in the Serie A League after top sports body cancelled the decision to dock then 15 points.
The earlier decision in January 2023 was on a case which centered on the club’s transfer dealings.
The investigative body then ordered football’s authorities to hold another hearing, on Thursday.
Back to base
With the latest u-turn on earlier decision, and eight games to go in the season, AC Milan have been knocked out of the Champions League places by Juve while Roma drop to fourth.
Juventus have now been lifted from seventh to third in the Serie A table – with 59 points, still 16 behind leaders Napoli but back into the qualifying spots for UEFA Champions League.
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).
The long wait
They 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.
According to MailOnline, Juventus had been waiting to discover the findings of the investigation after it was announced that it had been re-opened last October.
The prosecutor of the case alleged that the club had misrepresented losses in the period between 2018 and 2020, particularly regarding the amount ascribed to player sales.
Then came mass board resignation
The whole board resigned in November, leading to various media outlets claiming the unanimous decision came as a result of involvement in the Prisma investigation.
On top of the points deduction, Juventus were also initially handed sanctions upon 11 of their directing members of staff – however it is yet to be seen what will happen with their punishments.
