On May 30, the Juventus plea settlement hearing ended much earlier than expected.
At around 1:00 noon, the Juventus lawyer walked out of the hearing venue. About 45 minutes later, the result was announced: the Football Association court recognized the plea settlement agreement between Juventus and sports prosecutor Keene, Juventus' "salary gate" lawsuit It ended with a fine, including the Juventus club and a series of officials involved. At the same time, both the Juventus club and the officials who pleaded guilty and reconciled all accepted the waiver of the right to appeal in the plea agreement, including the previous "asset appreciation gate" deduction. 10 points for the trial.
This means that the lawsuits related to Juventus' fake accounts, wages and other business and financial issues that have lasted for nearly two years have all come to an end.
All the tense confrontations, criticisms, and statements before have been reconciled. Juventus issued a communiqué afterwards, stating that the club still believes that its operation is correct, but is willing to look forward and chose the route of pleading guilty and reconciling.
Compared with the Juventus management's attitude of trying to fight the lawsuit to the end when they were deducted 15 points, Juventus has now turned around rapidly, with a softened stance and a magical speed that no one expected (before the final round of the league). Put an end to the past, what is the reason?
As previously analyzed by
캡포탈, due to UEFA's unresolved attitude and UEFA's rule that "if the club is penalized from the European competition, it will be implemented from the first season of qualifying for the European War", Juventus must try to avoid it. A huge loss for two consecutive missed European competitions.
A very realistic way is to soften the line in the Italian domestic trial to keep the Europa League or UEFA Cup qualification. If UEFA imposes additional penalties, then it will only face the loss of no European competition for one year next season, instead of two consecutive years.
But Juventus have become so realistic, choosing to compromise positions, the attitude of key figures is still the most important. There are two people here, one is the former Juventus chairman Agnelli, and the other is the Italian Football Association chairman Gravina.
Although Agnelli and others collectively resigned after more evidence broke out in the scandal last year and the investigation expanded, Agnelli still has a lot of decision-making power over Juventus.
Juventus insists on not withdrawing from the European Super League to fight against UEFA, insists on conspiracy theory narratives, and must carry it through the judicial system. At the end of the day, Agnelli doesn't care how much economic loss the club has. The family business at the helm of Elkann will pay for the loss, and he cares more about his own face.
What really constituted a reversal was the trial result of the Italian Olympic Committee’s Sports Security Tribunal’s appeal against Juventus, which deducted 15 points. suspension penalty.
In this way, in the sports justice system, Agnelli has no room for recovery, and his influence on the Juventus judicial line has obviously and rapidly weakened. The role of Juventus sports director Calvo, who was robbed of his wife by Agnelli, is prominent, and Calvo's compromise tone is very obvious.
In this plea settlement, Paratic, Nedved, Cherubini and others all adopted the same attitude as the club and agreed to pay the fine, thus bringing the lawsuit to an end.
But there was only one person not involved in the plea settlement: Agnelli himself. Juventus officially revealed to the media that Agnelli did not participate in the collective plea settlement in order to "avoid creating obstacles for Juventus."
In fact, Agnelli's position is different from that of Juventus.
Therefore, he himself still has to be tried by a sports judge on June 15, and may face other punishments in addition to the previous two-year ban on asset appreciation.
Agnelli himself announced that he would appeal the two-year ban to the local administrative court outside the sports justice system, or even the national administrative court.
However, according to the Italian media, Agnelli is also likely to choose to plead guilty and settle before June 15. His personal lawyer and sports prosecutor Keene have been in touch. The real disagreement at the moment is between Agnelli and the current Juventus management (most likely Calvo himself), so even a plea and settlement would be impossible to act in unison.
After Juventus was sentenced to 15 points deducted, Calvo went to Rome many times to communicate with people inside and outside the Italian Olympic Committee and the Italian Football Association. Another key figure appeared here: Football Association Chairman Gravina .
Agnelli's contempt for institutions reached extraordinary proportions in his final years at Juventus, without Marotta. In Europe, he secretly planned the European Super League, betrayed the European Football Club Association, which he was the chairman of, and Ceferin, who called each other brothers and even made his children consider him godfather; at the management level, as the boss of a listed company, he ignored the Italian Securities Regulatory Commission , and did not take the advice and warnings of the accounting firm seriously.
In Italian domestic football, Agnelli struggled in Serie A and the league of small and medium-sized clubs headed by Lotito. For many years, Lotito "held two dog leashes" to Football Association Chairman Tabecchio and Serie A Chairman Beretta. "It alienated Juventus and the Football Association, and there was not much improvement after Gravina took office.
Gravina is not a Tavecchio-style chairman. He brought the grassroots club Blood Castle to Serie B and created a miracle. He has always been regarded as a representative of upholding sports values.
Gravina was very tired of Agnelli's conspiracy theory narrative and the operation of the European Super League, all of which were not conducive to the image of Italian football, but Gravina never chose to openly confront.
The replacement of Juventus' sports helm by Calvo actually gave Gravina a chance and also gave Juventus a chance. As a manager, Calvo cares about the strength of the club. The greatest strength at the moment is to minimize losses. At the same time, Calvo is also willing to join Gravina's efforts to maintain the overall situation and overall image of Italian football.
Therefore, the guilty plea settlement between Juventus and the sports prosecutor this time belongs to the work of the Juventus lawyer team and prosecutors in terms of specific judicial content, but it is obvious that Gravina has made a huge coordination work. It is the key reason why things can be "quickly resolved".
Confirming Juventus' judgment before Roma's participation in the Europa League final also gave a very clear message to other Serie A teams. Everyone knows that everything has become a conclusion. If UEFA imposes additional penalties, it will only involve a Conference League quota issue. .
This is why Gravina welcomed the judge's decision and the compromise between the two parties as soon as the plea settlement agreement came out, and pointed out that this is good for Italian football.
As the chairman of the Football Association, he certainly does not want Juventus to suffer greater losses, insist on exhausting judicial means to fight the lawsuit, and continue to insist on conspiracy theory narratives during such appeals.
Considering the alliance relationship between the Italian Football Federation and UEFA President Ceferin, it is very likely that what will happen next is that Gravina acts as an intermediary between Calvo and Ceferin, and Juventus and UEFA are in the UEFA Champions League. Reconciliation was also achieved in terms of qualification penalties for the European War. Leaving Agnelli alone to do his Ou Chao big dream.
