Juventus penalty 15 points suspended pending new trial

Juventus held back a 15-point penalty on Thursday, lifting the storied Italian side to third place in Serie A and, at the same time, a place in next season’s Champions League.

After a three-hour hearing the previous day, the case has now been transferred to the Football Association’s Court of Appeal and Juventus have returned the points pending a new trial.

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This is unlikely to be over before the end of the season, so any penalty would be for the following season.

Juventus moved from seventh place in the league to third place, two points behind second-placed Lazio and three points ahead of fourth-placed Roma, in a tight battle for the Champions League qualification spots. Defending champions Milan are out of the top four and are two points ahead of Inter Milan.

Milan will meet in the Champions League semi-finals next month.

Juventus was subjected to a heavy penalty in January for its false accounting, while several members of its former board of directors were banned from football activities, including former president Andrea Agnelli.

Juventus denied any wrongdoing and appealed to Italy’s highest sporting tribunal within the Italian Olympic Committee known as CONI.

Several suspensions were upheld, including Agnelli and Tottenham manager Fabio Paratici. However, Pavel Nedved was one of six former board members whose appeal was accepted.

Last month, FIFA imposed a 30-month ban on Paratici. Tottenham later announced that he would step down from his role as Director of Football with immediate effect pending the outcome of this appeal.

Juventus’ board of directors resigned en masse in November following an investigation by Turin prosecutors into allegations of bookkeeping allegations.

A sports trial in the case was then reopened on tip-offs from Turin prosecutors, resulting in points being deducted.

The preliminary hearing at the Turin court last month was postponed until May 10 for administrative reasons.

Juventus, Agnelli and 11 others face charges of false communication by a company publicly listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, obstruction of monitoring agencies, false billing and market manipulation.