What Is Happening At Italy’s Biggest Club

In a move that stunned the football world, the entire Juventus management resigned on Monday night. Issuing a lengthy public statement, the Italian club announced that every member of the board of directors would leave due to on-going financial investigations.

Those relinquishing their positions include Chairman Andrea Agnelli whose family have owned the club for almost 100 years, as well as Vice President Pavel Nedved and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene.

A statement on the official Juventus website noted that “given the centrality and the relevance of the pending legal and technical/accounting matters, considered in the best interest of the Company that Juventus provided itself with a new Board of Directors to address these matters.”

The same statement revealed that while Arrivabene would relinquish his powers as a director, he would remain in place as CEO but Maurizio Scanavino would be appointed immediately to act as Director General.

WHAT LED TO THIS?

As more details became clear, it quickly emerged that this shocking move was nothing to do with the “plusvalenza” investigation (reported previously in this column). In that matter, the authority in question – known as CONSOB – were looking into player transfers that took place between 2019 and 2021.

But that investigation, which essentially looked into several clubs for reporting inflated capital gains as players were swapped from one club to another, was closed back in May. As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, the host of clubs and directors who were sent to trial and acquitted, were subsequently all acquitted again by the federal court of appeal.

Yet a separate investigation into a different matter now appears to carry serious weight. In May and June 2020 – the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – 23 members of the first team squad signed agreements to reduce their salaries in order to help the club through an extremely difficult period.

It was believed that the agreement would see those players forgo four months of wages, a fact that was published as part of Juve’s accounts covering that period. Yet it has come to light that they allegedly only gave up one month’s salary and that the club continued to pay them “in the black.”

That would mean that the players and Juventus avoided paying tax on those sums, while the club would have also falsified their books to make it appear as if they balanced.

With Juve being a publicly traded company with legal obligations to the stock market, any evidence of this would be classified as financial fraud. Unlike the plusvalenza trial which was always a subjective matter, this is a black and white issue which is far easier to prove and, ultimately, to penalise if concrete evidence does emerge.

WHO RESIGNED?

The entire board of directors have resigned from their positions, meaning that as well as Agnelli, Nedved and Arrivabene, the following people have also been removed:

Directors Laurence Debroux, Suzanne Heywood and Francesco Roncaglio.

Independent Directors Massimo Della Ragione, Kathryn Fink, Giorgio Tacchia and Daniela Marilungo.

One particularly noteworthy name is the last one on that list. As the rest of the board announced their decision in a joint statement, Daniela Marilungo issued a statement of her own.

In it, she insisted a feeling of “impossibility for her to perform her office with due serenity and independence, due to, but not limited to, the fact that she felt she had not been put in a position to fully “act informed” facing unquestionably complex matters.”

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The first move Juventus made was to name Maurizio Scanavino as the club’s new CEO. A 49-year-old who is the current general director of the Gedi Group which controls Italian papers La Repubblica and La Stampa, he has previously worked for FIAT, Alfa Romeo and Lancia.

Meanwhile, Exor – the holding company which owns a majority share in Juventus – have noted that they see Gianluca Ferrero as the man to replace Agnelli as club President.

“With reference to the decisions taken yesterday by the Board of Directors of Juventus FC and in advance of its Shareholders Meeting called for 18 January 2023, Exor communicates that it will indicate Gianluca Ferrero for the role of Chairman of Juventus,” read a statement on their website.

“As a corporate adviser, auditor, Board and committee member of a number of companies, Mr. Ferrero has significant experience and the required technical competencies, as well as a genuine passion for the bianconero club, making him the person most qualified to fulfil this role.”

In the meantime, the investigation will continue, and Forbes will bring you updates on the situation as and when they happen.