Milan: Juventus, demoted to second division Serie B and stripped of their last two league titles due to their role in Italy’s match-fixing scandal, say they may turn to a civil court to fight their relegation, raising the prospect of weeks of further uncertainty in Italian soccer.
The Italian sports appeals court announced on Tuesday (as reported in Wednesday’s Late City edition) that AC Milan would regain their European status for next season and Lazio and Fiorentina would get back their spots in Serie A. Juventus, however, remained stuck in Serie B.
AC Milan also had their points penalty in Serie A cut from 15 to eight, while Juventus’ sanction was reduced from 30 to 17 points. Fiorentina will begin the new season with a 19-point penalty while Lazio will be penalised 11 points.
The court also upheld the July 14 ruling stripping Juventus of their last two Serie A titles, but removed the barrier for Milan playing in next season’s European Champions League.
Milan’s point-penalty for last season was reduced from 44 to 30, placing them third in the standings and making them eligible to enter Champions League qualifying.
Five-year bans for former Juventus executives Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo ? the figures at the centre of the scandal ? were upheld.
The pair, who resigned in May along with the entire Juventus board, were accused of creating a network of contacts with federation officials to influence refereeing assignments and get players booked ? allegations that were at the heart of the scandal.
Italy’s system of ‘sporting justice’ offers one more level of appeal for the club, the Chamber of Arbitration of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), before they can turn to a civil court and club chairman Giovanni Cobolli Gigli says that is the path they intend to follow.
“We will exhaust the sporting justice procedure by turning to CONI’s Chamber of Arbitration and if we aren’t satisfied at that stage then we will go to the regional court,” Cobolli Gigli an Italian sports paper.
Three years ago, three teams relegated from Serie B turned successfully to regional courts to regain their status in the second division. That case, which delayed the start of the season, led to a change in the procedure for appeals, reducing the ability of clubs to turn to civil courts.
But while it is no longer possible for clubs to turn to the court of their own region, they can still seek a ruling from the court of the capital region Lazio ? which may be Juventus’ last hope of staying in Serie A.
“It would have been OK to have Serie A with penalty points and maybe one, not two, of our titles revoked and they shouldn’t have removed us from the Champions League,” said Cobolli Gigli.
Fiorentina and Lazio also say they intend to appeal.
Of the four clubs charged, only AC Milan have said they will not be appealing the decision.
However, even if the appeals are successful it will be too late to for the clubs to regain their places in the Champions League or Uefa Cup as Wednesday was the deadline for countries to nominate their entries.
