Conte ban reduced to four months
Reuters - Friday 05 October 2012, 16:00
Juventus coach Antonio Conte will be back on the bench in early December after an Italian sports tribunal cut his ban for involvement in a match-fixing scandal from 10 months to four.
Conte, who led an undefeated Juve to the Italian title in his first season in charge last term, was banned on Aug. 10 for failing to report two incidents of match-fixing in the 2010-11 season when he was coach of then Serie B side Siena.
The Italian Olympic Committee tribunal, the final appeals court for sports disputes, cut the ban handed down by the soccer federation and said Conte could return to full activity on Dec. 8.
It said it would announce the reasons for its decision by mid-November.
Having already been on the sidelines since August, Conte now has only around two months of the ban left to serve.
While he is excluded from the team's dugout and changing rooms on match days, Conte has been allowed to train Juventus during the week.
So far the side have shown no ill-effects from his absence during matches. They are joint top of Serie A after six games and are unbeaten in all competitions.