Italy sports authority scraps 15-point penalty for Juventus, orders new trial

MILAN : Italy's top sports body on Thursday cancelled a decision to dock Serie A club Juventus 15 points in a case centered on the club's transfer dealings, ordering soccer authorities to hold a new hearing.

With eight games left to play, the decision will lift Juventus from seventh to third in the Serie A table - with 59 points, still 16 behind leaders Napoli but back into the qualifying spots for the lucrative European Champions League.

The ruling of Italy's Sports Guarantee Board came after Juventus, the most successful soccer club in Italy, appealed a sentence Italy's soccer court issued in January as it looked at the way the club and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals.

The soccer court had also imposed bans from holding office in Italian soccer on 11 past and present Juventus directors, including former Chairman Andrea Agnelli, a prominent member of the family controlling Juventus through their investment company Exor.

Partially accepting the Juventus appeal, the Sports Guarantee Board did not clear the club of wrongdoing but it ruled that a soccer court made up of different judges should now hold new proceedings against Juventus and the directors and come up with a more appropriate punishment.

However, Juventus also face potential sporting penalties, including points deductions, in a separate case Italy's football association (FIGC) is running into the club over alleged irregularities in their payments to players.

FIGC wrapped up investigations last week and is expected to decide whether the club should face another soccer tribunal.

Inquiries by sport authorities were triggered by investigations by criminal prosecutors in Turin, where the club is based, in a case regarding alleged false accounting.