November 12 – Napoli’s appeal against Juventus being awarded a 3-0 win for their unplayed fixture last month has been predictably rejected by the Court of Arbitration for sport.
Napoli had appealed Serie A’s ruling after they failed to show up for the Serie A game because local health authorities had blocked them from travelling.
The match was officially cancelled 45 minutes after the scheduled kick-off and as a result Napoli were also docked a one-point penalty. Two Napoli players, Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas, had tested positive for Covid-19 along with a staff member at the club.
In their ruling, Serie A said that “force majeure” did not exist in this case. On Tuesday, CAS upheld this, indicating that Napoli had decided long before the match that they were not going to travel to Turin.
The court ruled that Napoli “deserve the sanction because it was not at all impossible for them to take part in the match, having instead pushed the situation in that direction in a voluntary and pre-ordained manner.
“Napoli’s behaviour was effectively creating an alibi for themselves not to play.”
“Their conduct in the days leading up to the match were already aimed towards not playing, with clear violation of the fundamental principles that sporting justice is based on, namely fairness, decency and probity.”
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