Italian FA prosecutors ask for Juve to be docked nine points over suspicious transfers

Prosecutors at the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) asked Friday that Juventus be docked nine points as the governing body’s court mulls whether to reopen a trial over suspicious football transfers.

Juventus, three other Serie A clubs and 62 people including former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli were acquitted by the FIGC’s court last year of using transfers to artificially boost their balance sheets.

However the FIGC prosecutors who brought that case are again seeking sanctions against Juve after studying documents from the separate criminal investigation of the club’s accounts carried out in Turin.

A source at the FIGC confirmed to AFP that the points deduction had been requested and said that a decision on the reopening of the sporting trial would arrive by Friday evening.

Prosecutors have also asked for Agnelli, who was officially replaced as Juve chairman this week after stepping down along with the rest of the club’s board in November, to be banned for 16 months.

Former sporting director Fabio Paratici, now at Tottenham, could face a suspension of 20 months and 10 days.

Napoli were one of the clubs acquitted in the original trial but are not among those who could be punished this time around, while Sampdoria and Empoli are the only other Serie A clubs facing potential sanctions.

Juve, who sit 10 points behind Serie A leaders Napoli in third, will know if they and former members of the club’s board will stand criminal trial over alledged false accounting after a preliminary hearing in March.