December 19 – Juventus president Andrea Agnelli’s one-year ban for his alleged role in the sale of match tickets to the club’s ultras fans has been lifted but his fine has been increased while the club has also been hit harder than its original sanction.
Agnelli was banned by the Italian soccer federation (FIGC) in September and also fined €20,000 but the FIGC’s appeals court said it has turned the punishment into a fine of €100,000.
Juventus, meanwhile, has had its own fine doubled to €600,000 and will have the Curva Sud section of its ground closed for the home match against Genoa on January 22.
Agnelli was accused of helping to sell tickets – later resold at a profit – to ‘ultras’, some of whom allegedly had links to organised crime. Both he and the federation appealed the original sanction, the federation’s prosecutor, Giuseppe Pecoraro, having requested a 2 1/2-year suspension instead of a year.
Regardless of the ban being lifted, Agnelli’s reputation has taken something of an embarrassing turn since earlier this year he was elected as head of the influential European Club Association representing more than 200 clubs across the Continent.
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