Even without a team at the World Cup, Italian football has found a way of grabbing international headlines.
Late on Monday evening - just as Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal-that-wasn’t-a-goal was being debated – a footballing “earthquake” broke out on the peninsula regarding the Portugal captain's former club.
It was fitting terminology, as the foundations of Italy’s most successful team had been well and truly shaken; the entire board of directors, including Chairman Andrea Agnelli, Vice-President Pavel Nedved and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, had resigned.
The news came as a surprise but was the result of investigations into their financial activity that are nothing new. Allow us to explain…
What has happened so far?
Juventus announced on Monday night that all 10 members of their board, including Agnelli and Nedved, were stepping down amid an ongoing investigation into market manipulation and false accounting.
A statement said: “The Board of Directors’ members, 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.”
It marked the end of an era in Turin, as Agnelli had been President of Juve for the last 12 years, a period of immense success for the club on and off the field.
A new CEO, Maurizio Scanavino, was appointed, although Arrivabene will remain in post until a postponed shareholders’ meeting takes place on January 18 next year.
All of this came on the back of investigations into the club’s finances, and two months after the Bianconeri posted an Italian record €254 million (£220m) loss for the financial year ending June 30.
Why is this happening?
Juventus have been the subject of an investigation into their transfer activity since last year, when “revenues from player registration rights” between 2019 and 2021 were looked at by the Turin prosecutor.
However, Monday’s bombshell news came on the back of a separate investigation into salary payments during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Juve reportedly claimed that 23 players signed agreements to reduce their wages around May and June 2020.
But prosecutors are investigating whether Juve players didn’t give up four months of salary, as they claimed, but only one month, with the rest being paid privately and off the books.
What has the reaction been like?
While several outlets went with the “earthquake” line, Gazzetta dello Sport called it “The Revolution” and Turin-based Tuttosport’s front page shouted: “New Era Juve”.
Agnelli himself wrote a letter to staff, saying: “When the team is not united, then that opens the way for opponents to hurt you and that can be fatal”.
“In that moment, you must have the sharpness of mind to contain the damage: we are facing a delicate moment as a club and that unity is lost. Better to leave all together giving the opportunity for a new team to overturn that game.”
La Liga then waded in on Tuesday, calling for "immediate sports sanctions" against Juve for alleged Financial Fair Play breaches.
Juve legend Alessandro Del Piero was in the BeIn Sports studio as the news broke and was pressed on if he would make a return to the club to help.
“It’s early to say, I spent almost 20 years, I decided to stay despite relegation,” Del Piero said.
“Obviously, the relationship between the owners and me and the fans is quite deep, very deep. We’ve been through everything. this great journey brought me here with you.
“Every news regarding Juve, for me, is very emotional. I’m on standby, I’ll see what’s going to happen. I was there this summer for the tour in LA where I live and I saw all of them in Lisbon, I am a friend of Pavel [Nedved] and everyone. First of all, this is a sad situation.”
What happens now?
There has already been plenty of speculation flying around social media about the possibility of relegation or points deductions, but such talk is premature.
For sporting sanctions to be handed out, a separate sporting investigation would need to be opened to consider appropriate action, which is yet to happen.
The Agnelli family will remain in control of the club despite Andrea’s resignation, and their holding company Exor, which owns a majority stake in the club, has already named a replacement.
“Exor communicates that it will indicate Gianluca Ferrero for the role of Chairman of Juventus,” the company said in a statement.
“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.”
The next shareholders’ meeting will be on January 18, having been postponed twice now from the original date of November 23. From that date, new CEO Scanavino will take charge.
