Juve and two others relegated
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Article summary
Serie A champions Juventus have been relegated to Serie B along with ACF Fiorentina and S.S. Lazio at the climax of the Italian tribunal into sporting fraud.
Article body
Stripped of the title
Italian magistrates decided to demote the Turin giants to the country's second division while also giving them a 30-point handicap for the impending Serie B campaign. In addition, Juventus have been stripped of their last two league titles, from 2005 and 2006.
Dropping a division
Fiorentina and Lazio have been relegated too after tonight's verdict by a federal commission. The Florence club, who finished fourth in Serie A in May, will start the 2006/07 season with minus 12 points, while sixth-placed Lazio join Fiorentina in dropping down a tier and have a seven-point penalty for the new term.
Points penalty
League runners-up Milan escaped relegation, with their sanction being to begin their next Serie A challenge at minus 15 points. All the clubs have three days in which to lodge an appeal.
Deadline set
The Italian Football Federation has been set a 25 July deadline by UEFA to submit the list of teams from Italy eligible to participate in the 2006/07 club competitions. UEFA's Executive Committee issued a reminder at its meeting in Berlin on Tuesday that in accordance with FIFA and UEFA statutes, disciplinary cases should be dealt with by the appropriate decision-making bodies within the sporting structure.
'Full trust'
"We have full trust in the Italian FA," said UEFA communications and public affairs director William Gaillard. "They will give us the list of clubs by 25 July, we will take it and accept it as it is."