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September 26, 2017

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1-year ban for Juve chief over ticket sales

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli was banned for one year by the Italian soccer federation yesterday for his role is selling tickets to hard-core 鈥渦ltra鈥 fans that encouraged scalping.

The court also fined Juventus 300,000 euros (US$350,000). The ban comes less than three weeks after Agnelli was elected to chair the 220-member European Club Association.

Agnelli鈥檚 lawyer said they will appeal. The federation鈥檚 prosecutor, Giuseppe Pecoraro, also said he would appeal for a harsher sentence. Pecoraro had requested a 2-1/2-year suspension, a fine and an order to force Juventus to play two home matches behind closed doors.

鈥淚 am partially satisfied because we managed to prove everyone鈥檚 guilt but the facts are so serious that I think they should be punished more,鈥 Pecoraro told Italian news agency Ansa. 鈥淚 think the judgment of another court would be useful, taking into account that the resources coming from the ticket scalping went to a criminal organization, and that is very serious.鈥

Agnelli allegedly authorized the sale of season passes and other tickets. He has acknowledged meeting with Rocco Dominello, an 鈥渦ltra鈥 fan linked to the Calabrian 鈥榥drangheta crime mob who has since been sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for scalping.

But Agnelli said the meetings came only with large numbers of other fans at celebratory occasions and that the club never intended to engage in illegal activity.

Juventus security director Alessandro D鈥橝ngelo has been banned for 15 months while ticketing director Stefano Merulla and former marketing director Francesco Calvo have also been handed one-year suspensions.

Each of the four has also been fined 20,000 euros for violating sporting integrity and illicit relations with fans.

The 41-year-old Agnelli has led Juventus, the club his family has owned for nearly a century, since 2010. Agnelli has also been a non-voting member of the UEFA executive committee since 2015. He received full voting rights last week at a UEFA meeting in Geneva.


 

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