Soccer

Entire Juventus board resigns amid financial investigation

Chairman Andrea Agnelli among those to resign but club denies any wrongdoing

Andrea Agnelli has resigned as Juventus chairman. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images
Andrea Agnelli has resigned as Juventus chairman. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images
Tue Nov 29 2022 - 11:00

Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli, along with the club’s entire board of directors, resigned late on Monday amid an investigation into alleged wrongdoing related to the company’s last-three-year financial filings.

“We are facing a delicate moment as a company and the unity has failed,” Agnelli said Monday in a letter to employees. “It is better to leave everyone together, giving the possibility to a new team to overturn that game.

The dramatic exits follow an investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Turin, and Consob, Italy’s market regulator, into some of the football club’s recent financial balance sheets, regarding alleged false accounting and market manipulation.

Juventus said it will have to restate its 2022 financial statement, after a review of how players were accounted for. The team added it had amended its balance sheets, which will now need to be approved by shareholders on December 27th.

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Shares in Juventus dropped as much as 10 per cent in trading on Tuesday.

The club has denied any wrongdoing.

Since 2010, Juventus won nine consecutive Italian top league titles, also known as under the leadership of Agnelli. However, his reputation suffered after his attempt at leading the European Super League, a project that crumbled just days after its launch as teams pulled out after drawing ire from fans, politicians and sport officials.

The Agnelli family, which founded automaker Fiat SpA nearly 125 years ago, manages most of its properties through holding company Exor NV. It also controls Ferrari NV, CNH Industrial NV and media publisher The Economist Group Ltd, and is the largest single investor in Stellantis NV. The Agnelli family has owned Juventus, widely known as Juve, since 1923, and manages it through Exor, led by John Elkann.

Juventus deputy chairman Pavel Nedved and Chief Executive Officer Maurizio Arrivabene offered to resign but the board of directors asked Arrivabene to stay in the job, according to the statement.

The company also said it had appointed Maurizio Scanavino as general manager, and Gianluca Ferrero as chairman.

Scanavino is currently CEO and general manager of GEDI Gruppo Editoriale SpA, the media company owned by the Agnelli family. Tax adviser Ferrero holds positions at shipbuilder Fincantieri SpA and Luigi Lavazza SpA

Shares in the football club have declined almost 20 per cent since January, giving the company a market value of about €707 million. In 2021, the team approved a capital increase of €400 million.

Juventus is currently ranked third behind Napoli and AC Milan in Italy’s top football league Serie A’s tournament

In September, the Turin-based club reported a €254 million loss, the largest in Serie A’s history.

The club attributed the poor figures for the 2021-22 season partly to the effects of the pandemic and due to an early exit from the European Champions League. Some fans, who had paid for matches they were unable to attend the previous season due to Covid were compensated, reducing revenue, the company said.

Juventus has scheduled a shareholders’ meeting for Jan. 18 to appoint a new board of directors. - Bloomberg