Rome prosecutors seek trial for former Juve managers in accounting case

ROME :Rome prosecutors on Wednesday requested that former Juventus Chairman Andrea Agnelli and other ex-managers of Italy's most successful soccer club face trial over allegations of false accounting during their tenure, judicial sources said.

Agnelli and other defendants including former vice-chairman and Ballon d'Or winner Pavel Nedved would face various charges including stock market manipulation, obstruction of supervision and false invoicing, the sources said.

Juventus said in a statement that its lawyers had notified it of the request for indictment by the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Rome. A lawyer for Agnelli, who was Juventus chairman from 2010 to 2022, was not immediately available to comment.

A judge will have to evaluate the prosecutors' request and decide whether to let a trial go ahead or dismiss the case. A date for a hearing on the issue has yet to be scheduled.

Juventus have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said their accounting is in line with industry standards.

The club were docked 10 points for the Serie A season in May 2023 after a ruling by an Italian soccer court in a case centred on the their transfer dealings.

In March of the same year, a Turin judge started to examine whether Agnelli, 11 other people and the club should face trial, but Italy's Supreme Court shifted the case from the club's home city to Rome at the request of defence lawyers.