Juventus have been deducted 15 points for the current season by an Italian football court investigating its transfer dealings, the national football federation (FIGC) said on Friday.
With 20 games left to play in this season, Juventus were third in Serie A, 10 points adrift of leaders Napoli.
The points deduction would push them down into mid-table, outside the spots for European competition.
The ruling is tougher than a nine-point deduction a football prosecutor had requested earlier on Friday during a hearing looking at the way Juventus, Italy’s most successful club, and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals.
The football court also ruled that former Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli be banned from holding office in Italian football for 24 months.
It also decided on a 30-month ban for Juventus’s former sports director, Fabio Paratici, now managing director of football at Premier League club Tottenham.
The ban currently does not prohibit Paratici from working outside of Italy, but FIFA and UEFA will be asked to uphold the ruling for their own competitions.
The club’s CEO Maurizio Arrivabene has also been handed a two-year ban, while former vice-chairman Pavel Nedved has been given an eight-month suspension.
Juventus have been waiting to discover the findings of the investigation after it was announced that it had been re-opened last October.
The prosecutor of the case alleged that the club had misrepresented losses in the period between 2018 and 2020, particularly regarding the amount ascribed to player sales.
The whole board resigned in November, leading to various media outlets claiming the unanimous decision came as a result of involvement in the Prisma investigation.
Juventus have denied wrongdoing and said their accounting was in line with industry standards.
But the points deduction now means they are down in 10th place, and leaves them 12 points adrift of the Champions League places.
It is a bitter blow for the Italian giants, and comes just one week after their humbling 5-1 defeat against league leaders Napoli. -Daily Mail