Juventus have reached a settlement with Italian football authorities over payments to players and club accounts.
Juventus have escaped an extra Serie A points deduction for falsely claiming players forgo wages during the COVID-19 pandemic, after an Italian FA tribunal approved a plea deal.
Italy’s most successful club agreed on Tuesday to pay a fine of more than 700,000 euros ($751,000), ending a series of cases before Italy’s sports court.
Juventus said they had decided to accept the settlement “in the best interests of the club itself, its shareholders and stakeholders”.
“The resolution of all public FIGC sporting events has allowed the company to achieve a clear result,” Juventus said in a statement, adding that it would remove “tension and instability” and allow the club to focus on plans for next season. .
They were dropped 10 points in Serie A last week after amending the original 15-point penalty imposed on the club for illegal transfer activity.
Juventus agreed not to appeal the deduction as part of Tuesday’s deal.
The plea deal involved the Torino club allegedly falsely claiming that players were forgoing salary payments during the 2020 pandemic, while privately assuring those players that they would only miss out on parts of their public announcements.
In doing so, it was able to artificially reduce the damage to clubs’ annual balance sheets during the pandemic, when games were canceled and revenues plummeted.
The disciplinary court of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said in a published decision that it had fined the struggling club 718,240 euros ($770,284), while seven of its managers were ordered to pay the fines.
Shares in Juventus rose 9.9 percent on the Milan stock exchange after the settlement was announced, and were up 5.1 percent by 1350 GMT.
With one game remaining, the deal leaves Juventus seventh in the Serie A table, qualifying them for next season’s Europa League and a possible move to fifth, which puts Juventus in seventh place in the Serie A table. They are hopeful of a place in the more lucrative Europa League.
However, the club may have to relinquish their place in European competition due to possible sanctions from European football’s governing body UEFA in a separate investigation, according to the newspaper.
However, ex-chairman Andrea Agnelli, who was excluded from the plea deal, joined prosecutors in asking that his hearing be postponed until June 15 because of what the court said were “advanced talks” about potential sanctions.
Agnelli, 11 others and the club themselves are at risk of trial as part of the case.
Juventus are facing separate criminal proceedings in the incident, with 12 current and former club figures, including former president Agnelli, likely to face trial.
