Juventus plans to leave Super League project after season of legal turmoil
FILE- In this file photo dated March 15, 2016, Andrea Agnelli, then president of Juventus, arrives at the Allianz Arena stadium. Juventus will be fined 718,000 euros (nearly $800,000) but will agree not to make any appeals as part of a plea bargain with the Italian soccer federation on Tuesday after the club and seven former team directors were charged with alleged fraud for the way they handled player salary cuts during the coronavirus pandemic. The only former team director who did not agree to the plea bargain was ex-Juventus president Andrea Agnelli, who will be judged on June 15. Prosecutors in Turin have also charged Juventus, Agnelli and 11 others with false communications by a company listed publicly on the Milan stock exchange, obstructing watchdog agencies, false billing and market manipulation. Credit: AP/Matthias Schrader
TURIN, Italy — Juventus plans to leave the Super League project still being pursued by Real Madrid and Barcelona, though the club denied Tuesday it had been threatened with a European ban by UEFA.
The three storied clubs are awaiting a ruling expected within weeks from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg into their legal challenge against what they claimed is UEFA’s monopoly control of European club competitions.
But Juventus responded to reports it already left the Super League by explaining it contacted the two Spanish clubs “to initiate a discussion period” about its exit.
The three clubs were holdouts after the other nine Italian, Spanish and English clubs who joined them to launch the breakaway Super League in April 2021 renounced it within weeks of its quick failure.
UEFA was a clear winner when the Luxembourg court gave a first, non-binding opinion in the Super League case in December that went against the clubs.
It has been a tough season for Juventus’ owners, players and lawyers with no trophies won, legal cases lost and mass resignations among the board of directors.
A 10-point deduction in Serie A was finally confirmed last month in a false accounting case that dropped Juventus to finish seventh instead of qualifying for the next Champions League. That entry would have been worth tens of millions of euros (dollars) to the financially troubled club.
Juventus' players, Adrien Rabiot, from left, Moise Kean, and Leandro Paredes, are disappointed after Empoli's goal of 4-1, during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Empoli and Juventus, at the Carlo Castellani stadium in Empoli, Italy, Monday, May 22, 2023. Credit: AP/Marco Bucco
However, even the two-time European champion’s place in the third-tier Europa Conference League is at risk from a separate UEFA investigation of the false accounting allegations.
Juventus appears likely to have broken UEFA’s financial fair play rules that can lead to bans imposed by a UEFA-appointed panel. A final verdict, potentially on appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, is needed before the Europa Conference League qualifying playoffs round in August.
Long-time club president Andrea Agnelli resigned in November in fallout from the case. He had been a UEFA executive committee member and chairman of the influential European Club Association before giving up those positions of power in 2021 to help launch the Super League.
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