20 January 2023 , 21:31
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Former Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has been slapped with a two year ban from football after an investigation into the finances of Italian giants Juventus.
Accused of misrepresenting their financial losses between 2018 and 2020 – Juventus denied any wrongdoing – the Serie A club was proved by officials. After that investigation, it was announced on Friday that the club has been deducted 15 points by the Federal Court of the Italian Football Federation.
On top of that, several key figures were given individual bans. Fabio Paratici, now Tottenham's director of football, and former Juve chairman Andrea Agnelli were given the most lengthy bans, along with Arrivabene who is the current chief executive of the club.
Who is Maurizio Arrivabene?
Before joining Juventus, he worked in Formula 1 and spent several years as team principal at Ferrari. He first took on the role in November 2014, leading the team for four unsuccessful seasons before he was replaced by Mattia Binotto ahead of the 2019 season.
His predecessor, Marco Mattiacci, was ushered out of the door at Maranello after just seven months in charge after new Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne wrestled control of the team from Luca di Montezemolo in an internal coup.
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"We need a person with a thorough understanding not just of Ferrari, but also of the governance mechanisms and requirements of the sport," he declared when explaining his decision to give Arrivabene the TP job. But despite his "wealth of knowledge", he was unable to inspire a declining team to success.
Arrivabene has served on the Juventus board of directors since June 2021 (Getty Images)Tension set in between himself and his successor, Binotto, in keeping with Maranello tradition. But having been an independent board member of Juventus since 2012, he was always going to have a role to play in Turin and, in June 2021, his appointment to the board of directors was confirmed.
What happens now?
Juventus are believed to have 30 days to launch an appeal against the verdict. If that fails, then Arrivabene, along with Paratici, Agnelli, Pavel Nedved and Federico Cherubini, will all have to serve their bans. As it stands they only apply to Italian football, but reports have claimed they could be extended to UEFA and FIFA competition also.
The points deduction, should it be applied this season, would see Juventus drop to 10th in the Serie A table. Their title hopes would be effectively over, stranded 25 points off league leaders Napoli, while the Old Lady would also be 12 points adrift of the Champions League places.