The full board of directors at Italian Serie A soccer heavyweights Juventus has resigned in the midst of an investigation into the club’s finances and accounting procedures.
President Andrea Agnelli, vice president Pavel Nedved, and the rest of the board all stepped down from their roles yesterday (November 28) as Juventus’ recent financial statements continue to undergo investigation by Italian prosecutors.
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Potential alleged charges against the club – all of which have been denied – include false accounting (through the production of invoices from non-existent transactions) and market manipulation, with the Italian financial and markets regulator Consob having been investigating the club’s practices over the last year.
A Juventus statement said the board has taken this decision “having considered the centrality and relevance of pending legal and accounting issues.”
The board said it considered it in the best interests of the club “to recommend that Juventus equip itself with a new board of directors to address these issues.”
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EXOR, the holding company through which the Agnelli family runs Juventus, has said in a statement today (November 29) that it will nominate Gianluca Ferrero, a corporate advisor, as the new chair.
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By GlobalDataExor said that Ferrero has “the required technical competencies, as well as a genuine passion for the club.”
Shareholders will meet on January 18 next year to appoint a new board, the club has said.
For the 2021-22 season, Juventus’ accounts show a post-tax loss of €254 million ($263.2 million), a record-breaking figure for the Turin club.
This followed a loss of €210 million in 2020-21.
Both Agnelli and Nedved have been under investigation for some time now, with police having launched an investigation into “revenues from player registration rights” between 2019 and 2021 in November last year.
Maurizio Arrivabene, the team’s chief executive, offered to resign too but will instead stay on in order to ensure a transition to the next board.
The other members to have stepped down are as follows: Laurence Debroux, Massimo Della Ragione, Katryn Fink, Daniela Marilungo, Francesco Roncaglio, Giorgio Tacchia, and Suzanne Keywood.
Agnelli, who became Juventus’ president in 2010, was integral in the attempted creation in April last year of the breakaway, closed-tier, European Super League (ESL) competition, which only lasted a few days before being forced to shut down amid overwhelming opposition.
Indeed, Juventus are still signed up to the ESL, alongside Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Juventus currently lie third in the 2022-23 Serie A table, having been knocked out of this season’s financially lucrative UEFA Champions League at the initial group stage earlier this month.
In early share trading today in Milan, Juventus shares fell in value by 6%.
Image: Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images
