Juventus Turin was excluded for the 2023/2024 season of the Conference League for not having respected the rules of financial fair-play, UEFA announced this Friday in a statement.
In addition to being banned from participating in the third European competition next season, the Piedmontese club was also fined 20 million euros ($22 million), 10 of them conditional.
UEFA specifies that these additional 10 million fines will only be required in the event of non-compliance with the accounting requirements established by the institution in the financial years of 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Juventus affirmed that it accepts that decision and that it waives appealing it, although “expressly excluding (…) that this may constitute an acknowledgment of any responsibility against it,” in a statement on the club’s website.
“We regret the decision of the financial control body of UEFA clubs,” Gianluco Ferrero, president of Juve, reacted in the same statement.
Ferrero, who “does not share the interpretation” of UEFA about a violation of the financial fair-play rules, explains that he prefers to “put an end to a period of uncertainty.”
The president of the Italian club especially alludes to “the uncertainty about a possible participation in the 2024/2025 season of the Champions League”, which could be jeopardized in the event of filing an appeal.
Penalized last season with the withdrawal of points for accounting fraud in capital gains considered artificial in player sales, Juve finished seventh in Serie A, failing to get a ticket to the Champions League.
It is therefore Fiorentina, 8th in Serie A last season, that will take Juve’s place in the Conference. The ‘Viola’ team lost the final of that competition in June against English West Ham (2-1).