SERIE A
Italy sports authority scraps 15-point penalty for Juventus, orders new trial
Italy’s top sports body on Thursday cancelled a decision to dock Serie A club Juventus (JUVE.MI) 15 points in a case centred on the club’s transfer dealings, ordering soccer authorities to hold a new hearing.
With eight games left to play, the decision will lift Juventus from seventh to third in the Serie A table with 59 points, still 16 behind leaders Napoli but back in the qualifying spots for the lucrative European Champions League.
The ruling by Italy’s Sports Guarantee Board came after Juventus, the most successful soccer club in Italy, appealed against a sentence that Italy’s soccer court issued in January as it looked at the way the club and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals.
The soccer court had also imposed bans from holding office in Italian soccer on 11 past and present Juventus directors, including former Chairman Andrea Agnelli, a prominent member of the family controlling Juventus through their investment company Exor (EXOR.AS).
Partially accepting the Juventus appeal, the Sports Guarantee Board did not clear the club of wrongdoing but ruled that a soccer court made up of different judges should now hold new proceedings against Juventus and some of the directors and come up with a more appropriate punishment.
The sports authority confirmed the bans for four of the 11 directors, including Agnelli and current Tottenham Hotspur managing director Fabio Paratici.
Juventus Chief Football Officer Francesco Calvo said the club welcomed the decision’s effect on the Serie A table as it provided a degree of certainty to Juventus and the other sides battling for a spot in next year’s European Champions League.
“As of today, we finally have certainty and we expect that the points that have been given back to us will remain with us forever,” Calvo added, speaking before the Italian club’s Europa league clash against Sporting Lisbon.
However, Juventus also face potential sporting penalties, including points deductions, in a separate case that Italy’s football association (FIGC) is conducting over alleged irregularities in the club’s payments to players.
FIGC wrapped up investigations last week and is expected to decide whether the club should face another soccer tribunal.
Inquiries by sport authorities were triggered by investigations by criminal prosecutors in Turin, where the club is based, in a case regarding alleged false accounting.
A criminal court hearing to decide whether to order a trial for Andrea Agnelli, 11 other people and the club itself started last month.
Juventus have denied wrongdoing and said their accounting is in line with industry standards.
-Reuters
The man in charge of assigning Serie A and B referees, Gianluca Rocchi, has suspended himself from the role with immediate effect while under investigation for sports fraud by Milan’s Public Prosecutor’s Office.
VAR supervisor Andrea Gervasoni has taken similar action for the same reasons, and the investigation is looking into incidents during last season’s Serie A campaign.
“This choice, painful, difficult but shared with my family, is intended to allow the legal proceedings to run their course properly, from which I am sure I will come out unscathed and stronger than before,” Rocchi’s statement to Italy’s referees’ association (AIA) said.
According to Italian media reports, Rocchi is accused of interfering with VAR protocols along with selecting referees preferable to Inter Milan.
“We are learning everything from the media, so we are stunned by the declarations,” Inter President Giuseppe Marotta told Sky Sports before his side’s game at Torino on Sunday.
“We do not have referees that we favour or are unfavourable towards, we are confident that we acted entirely fairly, which should reassure everyone.
“We are safe in the knowledge that Inter are not involved in this situation and will not be involved in the future.”
The news has sparked fears in Italy of another crisis, similar to the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal which saw Juventus stripped of the 2004-05 Serie A title and relegated to Serie B, with AC Milan, Fiorentina, Lazio and Reggina also involved.
-Reuters
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Nigerian striker Victor Osimhen has opened up on the breakdown of his relationship with SSC Napoli, revealing how a controversial social media post, racial abuse and strained transfer dealings ultimately ended his time in Naples.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Osimhen described the turning point as a TikTok video posted by Napoli in September 2023 that appeared to mock him for missing a penalty.
“After Napoli posted that video on TikTok, something broke forever,” he said.
The video showed Osimhen appealing for a penalty with a squeaky, sped-up voice dubbed over the footage, followed by the clip of his missed spot kick. Although the post was quickly deleted after his representatives labelled it offensive and reportedly considered legal action, the damage, according to the striker, had already been done.
Osimhen said the incident triggered a wave of toxic online reactions, including racist insults directed at him. He also recounted how some supporters confronted him at his residence, demanding explanations over the controversy.
For the 2023 African Footballer of the Year, the episode marked a decisive rupture in trust.
“I’m not a puppet,” he said, describing a period in which he felt humiliated and sidelined despite his contributions to the club.
Beyond the social media row, Osimhen suggested that tensions over his future compounded the fallout. He indicated that there had been an understanding with Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis regarding a potential departure in a future transfer window, but he felt the club did not honour that understanding.
“They treated me like a dog,” he said, adding that decisions were being made about his career without what he considered basic respect.
By late summer 2024, relations had deteriorated sharply. Reports indicated that Napoli excluded him from their Serie A squad list amid transfer uncertainty. The impasse eventually led to a season-long loan move to Galatasaray, bringing the standoff to a temporary close.
Osimhen was instrumental in Napoli’s historic 2022–23 Serie A title triumph, finishing as the league’s top scorer with 26 goals and becoming one of the defining figures of that championship campaign.
His departure, therefore, marked a dramatic reversal — from talismanic hero to sidelined star.
Now rebuilding his career in Turkey, Osimhen said his decision to speak publicly was driven by a desire to reclaim his narrative.
He explained that he had remained silent for months out of respect for Napoli supporters, but felt compelled to address the circumstances that led to his exit.
The episode underscores how a combination of social media missteps, fan reaction and unresolved transfer negotiations can unravel even the most successful partnerships in modern football.
For Osimhen, a relationship that once delivered a Scudetto ended not with celebration, but with controversy.
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Croatia captain Luka Modric, who left Real Madrid after 13 years at the LaLiga club, has completed his move to AC Milan on a one-year deal with an option to extend until June 2027, the Serie A side said on Monday.
The midfielder’s arrival was confirmed by newly-appointed Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri earlier this month.
“Very happy to be here to start a new chapter in my career,” said Modric, who turns 40 in September, in an Instagram video shared by Milan.
Milan said Modric will wear the number 14 shirt, which he previously wore during his four years at English side Tottenham Hotspur to honour Dutch great Johan Cruyff.
“It’s an immense honour for them to compare me to (Cruyff)… I wore the no. 14 at Tottenham in honour of him, and because the no. 10 wasn’t available,” Modric had said after winning the Ballon d’Or award in 2018.
Modric, regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, announced in May that he would leave Real after the Club World Cup. He has made 597 appearances for the Spanish club, winning 28 trophies including four LaLiga and six Champions League titles.
He played his last game for Real on Wednesday, coming on as a second-half substitute during a 4-0 loss to Paris St Germain in the Club World Cup semi-finals.
“It’s a bitter end… he’s a legend of world football and of Real Madrid. He’ll be remembered for many more good things than for the 25 minutes he played today,” Real Madrid manager Xabi Alonso said after the match.
Modric, considered Croatia’s greatest player of all time, has represented the country a record 188 times, scoring 28 goals. He won the Golden Ball at World Cup 2018, where he led Croatia to the final for the first time.
He won the Ballon d’Or in December that year, becoming the first player other than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the prestigious annual award since 2007.
Modric’s arrival reinforces a Milan midfield that also features Youssouf Fofana, Yunus Musah and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, with Samuele Ricci joining from Torino earlier this month.
Milan, who failed to qualify for a European competition after finishing eighth in the Italian top-flight league last season, begin their Serie A campaign against newly-promoted Cremonese on August 23.
-Reuters
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