The decision that found Manchester City guilty of more than 100 financial violations alleged by the Premier League has also brought back to the memory of the English people Juventus, which has been mentioned several times in recent days along with the Calciopoli scandal that shook Italian football in 2006: the precedent of our football has little to do with the events that are troubling the "blue" half of Manchester, but in the analysis of possible sanctions, the parallel with the black and whites has been mentioned several times, in an attempt to make clear a situation that has no precedent in the history of English football.
A precedent that seems closer to the nature of the proceedings against City is the issue of Juventus' capital gains in 2023, which the English are following with great interest to answer the questions that are now related to the "Citizens", namely what could happen to the club after a financial violation and whether the consequences could also affect the directors, even though the accusations are on two different levels.
The Juventus precedent that interests the English
Calciopoli is mentioned several times by the English media just to understand the scale of the proceedings against Manchester City. The scandal that changed Italian football and led to the removal of the 2004/2005 season title and the relegation of Juventus to Serie B is used as a starting point to talk about the issue that is destined to mark the Premier League forever, but it is a much more recent situation of the Bianconeri that arouses curiosity, that related to the fictitious capital gains in the framework of the Prisma investigation, which broke out in the 2022/23 season. The FIGC prosecutor's office accused the club of a system of transfer operations in which the value of players was allegedly artificially inflated, allowing the balance sheets to improve.
The case ended with a 10-point penalty in the standings for Juventus and the suspension of several directors, such as Andrea Agnelli and Fabio Paratici, while the exclusion from European cups for the 2023/24 season was added as a sanction by UEFA. Surprisingly, among the operations included in the reconstruction of the events was the exchange between the Bianconeri and City for Cancelo and Danilo. According to the English media, the sporting sanction imposed on Juventus could be a reference point to understand what will happen to the English club, certainly adapted to the magnitude of the allegations: according to this reasoning, a large deduction of points is expected as a sanction, without exclusion from the championship and the redistribution of trophies as in the Calciopoli case.
Juventus executives sanctioned over capital gains scandal
But from the Italian case, English analysts also derive the possible answer to another problem. It is not only about the club's responsibility, but also about individual proceedings against senior managers, as happened with Paratici and Agnelli. The criminal proceedings against them were concluded by agreement: Agnelli agreed to a 20-month sentence, while Paratici for 18 months, both suspended sentences. Could the same scenario happen with City's managers? This is a question that English analysts continue to ask themselves, wondering whether there could be consequences in the criminal plan after the Premier League's sports proceedings.
