For 30 months
The ban imposed on ex-Juventus sports director Fabio Paratici for all activities in Italian football as part of Operation Prisma has been extended to the entire football world. The world association FIFA confirmed the decision against the 50-year-old after a request from the Italian association FIGC. This means that Paratici will not be able to negotiate any contracts for his current club Tottenham Hotspur in the coming transfer period – it was not initially known whether he would have to vacate his post there as a result. On Friday evening, however, Tottenham announced that they had reached an agreement with Paratici that he would not continue in office pending the outcome of the appeals process. Paratici and ten other ex-Juve officials are accused of, among other things, accounting fraud in player transfers.
Fabio Paratici – update
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 31, 2023
Note: This article first appeared on March 30 at 6:56 am and was subsequently updated to reflect new developments.
In a club statement on March 30, Tottenham Hotspur had the following to say about FIFA’s decision: “In the late afternoon, FIFA informed us in writing that the FIFA Disciplinary Committee had decided to extend the FIGC sanction worldwide. These deliberations of the committee took place without prior notice to the parties involved. We urge FIFA to further clarify the details of the overtime and its deviation from the FIGC sanction. We want to clarify that neither Fabio, when conducting an interview on club channels yesterday, nor the club had any indication that this decision was made by FIFA – based on the fact that the FIGC sanction was imposed on January 20, 2023 was imposed and remains the subject of an appeal on April 19, 2023. We will be kept informed of this matter in due course,” the Premier League club said.
“FIFA can confirm that the Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, at the request of the FIGC, has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by the FIGC on several football officials to apply worldwide,” a press release said on Wednesday. In addition to Paratici, this also applies to the former Juve bosses Andrea Agnelli and Pavel Nedved. The entire leadership of the “Old Lady” resigned at the end of 2022 after investigations had been renewed and expanded. As a result, the Italian record champions were deducted 15 points.
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Background: Tottenham’s Paratici and the allegations against Juventus
Paratici was no longer at Juventus when the investigation started, he moved to Tottenham in the summer of 2021, where the position was created especially for him. He and his ex-colleagues are accused of embellishing the business books with fictitious market values that are too high for transfer transactions and thus of having made false statements on the stock exchange where Juventus is registered in Italy. With transfer sums that were too high, so high capital gains were achieved.
All of the accused in the “Prisma” case deny alleged misconduct and have lodged an appeal against the sanctions. This should be decided in the course of spring, then it will also be clear whether the point deduction against Juventus will last. In February it became known that the people of Turin were threatened with the deduction of a further 20 points for accounting fraud in salary payments during the Corona period. During this time, many players in the squad had agreed to a salary cut of a total of 90 million euros. However, the salaries are said to have been paid in part, only to have been settled in the books in the next financial year in order to reduce the minus in the previous year.
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With the 15 points deducted, Juventus would currently be second in Serie A behind SSC Napoli and nine points ahead of the non-Champions League ranks. Should the penalty stand and a further 20 points be deducted, the club would now be just outside the relegation zone.
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