Juventus points deduction revoked for this season

The deduction of 15 points assigned to Juventus earlier in the season has been revoked. Serie A slammed the Turin club with the punishment for false accounting accusations. The financial irregularities included three transfers of players to Tottenham in one summer. Fabio Paratici was an executive at Juventus before moving to the north London club. FIFA gave the Italian an extended ban, forcing him to step down from his post at Spurs.

The initial points deduction came in early January, along with bans for a number of Juventus executives, including Paratici. For a time, it sent Juventus all the way down to 10th in the table, when it was third just before then.

Adding the 15 points climbs Juventus back to third, fittingly where it was before the deduction. Also, the revoke of the ruling temporarily unbans Paratici, Andrea Agnelli and other Juventus executives.

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The reason for revoking the points deduction is to further clarify the capital gains controversy. However, this is the third time a federal court in Italy will discuss this Juventus case. Previous hearings cleared 11 clubs of artificially inflating transfer fees. That included transfers with Napoli, Sampdoria, Genoa and Empoli. Consequently, there is a ‘lack of clarity‘ over the ruling and the points deduction for Juventus. Therefore, prosecutors and defendants battle in court again.

End of Juventus points deduction has major table implications

As stated, Juventus is back in third. This would be good enough to get Juventus into the Champions League for the 13th-straight year. However, that is no guarantee. With eight games remaining, though, Juventus is six points clear of Milan in fifth. Juventus is now two points behind Lazio in second, but a whopping 16 behind league-leading Napoli.

Milan, as well as Champions League semifinal opponent Inter, are now the ones ‘punished’ with Juventus getting its points back. Not long ago, both Inter and Milan were both in the Champions League spots in the Serie A table. Now, both of the Milan clubs are outside the top four. Milan is three points back of Roma, while Inter is a further two points behind Milan. Despite one of these teams being guaranteed a spot in the UEFA Champions League Final this season, both could miss out on the tournament next season.

PHOTO: IMAGO / Insidefoto