Italy’s most profitable soccer membership is as soon as once more mired in scandal.

Juventus, the 36-time winners of Serie A, have dropped all the way down to ninth place after being docked 15 factors following a probe into the membership’s previous switch dealings.

The Turin membership now sits 27 factors adrift of leaders Napoli. They’d been in third place, 10 factors off the highest spot, earlier than the penalty was utilized on Friday.

The controversy comes lower than 20 years after they have been embroiled in a match-fixing saga that noticed them closely fined, stripped of titles and relegated from Italian soccer’s high tier in 2006.

Right here’s what you should know concerning the newest scandal:

Why have been Juventus docked factors?

The Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) introduced on Friday night that Juventus had been deducted 15 factors for “monetary irregularities” and “false accounting” in relation to historic switch dealings – the trade of gamers between golf equipment.

The membership stands accused of pumping up its steadiness sheet by intentionally inflating participant valuations throughout transfers with the intention to enhance “capital features”.

Balancing the books has taken on higher significance lately following the introduction of Monetary Truthful Play (FFP) rules by UEFA, European soccer’s governing physique.

The FIGC’s prosecutor, Giuseppe Chiné, had requested a nine-point penalty be utilized. The federation is because of publish the rationale for its ruling inside the subsequent 10 days.

Have been different penalties imposed?

In addition to the factors deduction, the FIGC additionally handed out bans to 11 former and present Juventus executives, stopping them from holding workplace in Italian soccer.

The longest single ban – totalling 30 months – was imposed on former Juventus sporting director and present Tottenham managing director Fabio Paratici.

Former president Andrea Agnelli was handed a 24-month suspension, whereas vp Pavel Nedved obtained an eight-month ban. Each have been former members of the membership’s board of administrators, which resigned en masse in November in response to the probe into the membership’s bookkeeping.

The FIGC has requested that the bans it has imposed be prolonged to “UEFA and FIFA actions” – a transfer which, if utilized, would imply the people sanctioned are additionally prohibited from working in soccer outdoors of Italy.

What did Juventus say?

Juventus have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

The membership introduced it would launch an enchantment in opposition to the FIGC’s ruling – as soon as the explanations for the choice have been revealed – to the Sport Assure Board of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), Italy’s highest sporting court docket.

Attorneys for the membership stated the federation’s sanctions “represent a transparent disparity of therapy in opposition to Juventus and its managers in comparison with some other firm or member”.

“We take into account this to be a blatant injustice additionally for thousands and thousands of followers, which we belief will quickly be remedied within the subsequent court docket,” the legal professionals stated in a press release.

Are different golf equipment implicated?

Not because it stands.

Juventus, 10 different golf equipment – together with Napoli and Sampdoria – and 59 executives have been acquitted of any wrongdoing in April final yr following an accounting investigation.

The probe was reopened in December following an enchantment, with 9 of the unique 11 golf equipment and 52 executives all topic to renewed scrutiny.

That got here after new proof regarding Juventus’ funds emerged from a separate investigation involving prosecutors in Turin and the membership.

This time 9 golf equipment have been investigated, and Juventus was discovered responsible of monetary malpractice. The opposite eight golf equipment – Empoli, Genoa, Novara, Parma, Pescara, Pisa, Professional Vercelli, and Sampdoria – have been acquitted, once more.

What occurs subsequent?

Whereas Juventus readies for what may very well be a protracted authorized battle forward, Italy’s most-storied soccer membership can be desperately attempting to salvage what has been a largely unimpressive season on the pitch.

The group have already been knocked out of the Champions League and the factors deduction leaves them in critical hazard of lacking out on a spot in Serie A’s high 4, which might safe the aspect a spot in European soccer’s premier membership competitors subsequent yr.

The Previous Woman, as Juventus are generally recognized, at present sits 14 factors behind fourth-placed Roma.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League would have main financial penalties for the membership and, mixed with this newest scandal, might probably spark an exodus of the group’s most proficient gamers.

Towards this backdrop, Juventus are additionally the topic of a authorized probe by the general public prosecutor’s workplace in Turin into wage funds in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and a UEFA investigation into potential breaches of the governing physique’s membership licensing and FFP rules.

The UEFA probe might finally see Juventus banned from collaborating within the Champions League or the lesser European membership competitions – the Europa League and Convention League – no matter their closing place in Serie A.