Italian FA ask for Juve, Napoli director bans as suspect transfers trial begins

(FILES) This file photo taken on May 9, 2017 shows the logo of the Juventus football club before the UEFA Champions League semi final second leg football match Juventus vs Monaco, at the Juventus stadium in Turin. – Twelve of Europe’s most powerful clubs announced the launch of a breakaway European Super League on April 19, 2021 in a potentially seismic shift in the way football is run, but faced accusations of greed and cynicism. Six Premier League teams, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham are involved, alongside Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan. Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez, who was announced as the first ESL president, said the breakaway reflected the big clubs’ wishes. (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP)

Key figures at Juventus and Napoli, including chairmen Andrea Agnelli and Aurelio De Laurentiis, face possible lengthy bans as a trial over suspicious football transfers begun on Monday, the Italian FA announced.

Prosecutors at the country’s football federation (FIGC) have asked for Agnelli to be banned from the game for a year over his alleged role in suspected inflated transfer values designed to artificially boost clubs’ balance sheets.

Agnelli is just one of 61 people before the FIGC’s tribunal along with Juve’s former sporting director Fabio Paratici, his replacement Federico Cherubini, CEO Maurizio Arrivabene and vice-chairman and former player Pavel Nedved.

Now at Tottenham Hotspur, Paratici faces a potential ban of 16 months and 10 days, the longest requested by prosecutors for any individual.

Nedved and Arrivabene face eight months while Cherubini, along with six other Juve directors, is looking at nearly seven months.

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