Juventus kicked out of Europe, fined for financial breaches

Europe's foootball governing body, UEFA, has decided to kick Italian club Juventus FC from European competitions in the 2023-24 season after being found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. The Serie A giants have also been handed a hefty fine in connection with the same offences.

Removed from Europa Conference League

Juventus finished seventh in the Serie A for the 2022-23 season. This effectively qualifies them for a spot in the Europa Conference League. However, with the implementation of the ban, Juventus will be excluded from the competition, with Fiorentina taking over the spot instead.

Apart from the substitution, English Premier League side Aston Villa will also be affected. Villa will be moved to the seeded pot in the draw after previously being unseeded for the play-offs this August. Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the ban is only effective for the 2023-24 season, and Juventus may rejoin European competitions from 2024-25, if they qualify.

Champions League

It has to be pointed out that Juventus should have qualified for the UEFA Champions League in the first place. Based purely on results, Juventus should have landed on the fourth spot on the table, as they would have tied Inter Milan with 72 points. However, that was before they were handed a 10-point deduction by the Italian Football Association back in May.

They were initially docked 15 points, but this was revoked and a fresh investigation led to a 10-point deduction. Juventus were penalised after they were found guilty of inflating transfer fees in order to manipulate their "capital gains" for tax reasons.

Despite the penalty, they were able to hold on to seventh spot on the table, making them eligible for the Conference League before UEFA decided to kick them out.

Hefty fines on top of the ban

UEFA have gone a step further than simply banning Juventus from European competitions. The governing body also slapped the Bianconeri with a hefty fine worth £17.15 million. However, half of that sum is conditional.

To elaborate, there will be an £8.6 million fixed fine which the club has to pay. The other half of the aforementioned amount would still depend on further investigations on the club's financial statements for 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The club needs to make sure that for those years, their statements should comply with the accounting requirements of UEFA's Licensing and Financial sustainability rules.

What led to the ban in the first place?

Back in December, UEFA opened an investigation into the club's player registrations from the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. They were found guilty of breaching the rules, and were therefore handed the sporting and financial penalties.

The club disagreed with the decision as expected, with Juventus president Gianluca Ferrero saying in a statement: "We regret the decision of the Uefa Club Financial Control Body. We do not share the interpretation that has been given of our defence, and we remain firmly convinced of the legitimacy of our actions and the validity of our arguments."

The club decided against appealing the decision, but insisted that they believe that they have done no wrong. "Juventus, while continuing to consider the alleged violations insubstantial and its actions correct, has declared to accept the decision by waiving to appeal, expressly excluding, with the UEFA CFCB acknowledgment, that this may constitute admission of any liability against itself."

Meanwhile, UEFA has also fined Premier League side Chelsea FC for similar FFP infringements from 2012-2019 during the time of former owner Roman Abramovich. The fine was also set at £8.6 million but they have not been banned from competing in Europe.

Premier League champions Manchester City have also been at loggerheads with the English FA and UEFA for over a hundred FFP rule breaches from 2009-2018. However, they have so far been able to evade any serious sporting punishment and have even gone on to win the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League titles last season.