Juventus have been rocked by the shock news that the club’s entire board have resigned.
The board of directors for the Italian giants met on Monday night where it was decided that president Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and managing director Maurizio Arrivabene, among others, would all step down from their positions.
Agnelli is a major player in European football and is one of the founding voices behind the disastrous attempt to launch a European Super League last year. He has been Juve president for 12 years and has been a prominent voice over the past few years in particular.
Nedved is a Juventus legend who made 327 appearances for the club between 2001 and 2009. The 50-year-old was appointed to the Juve board in 2010 and became vice-president five years later.
Arrivabene joined Juve from Formula One team, Ferrari, in 2019 and has been the club’s chief executive since 2021. He will remain in place as chief executive until a new one is appointed at the next shareholders meeting on January 18.
Laurence Debroux, Massimo Della Ragione, Kathryn Fink, Daniela Marilungo, Francesco Roncaglio, Giorgio Tacchia and Suzanne Heywood are the other directors on Juventus’ board who have now resigned. Italian media outlets report that the decision is linked to the board’s involvement in the Prisma investigation, which has been opened by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office.
The investigation reportedly involves 15 different people at Juventus and relates to alleged false accounting and market manipulation. Last month, Juventus denied any wrongdoing after the allegations emerged following an examination of the club's financial statements.
On October 25, Juventus said in a statement: “Juventus remains convinced... to have acted in compliance with the laws and regulations governing the preparation of financial reports, in accordance with accounting principles and in line with the international practice in the football industry.”
The allegations are that Juventus misrepresented financial losses in the period 2018 between 2020 – a period when Fabio Paratici worked as the club’s chief football officer. The 50-year-old Italian is now Tottenham ’s managing director of football.
On Monday, a statement on the club website said Maurizio Scanavino had been appointed as new general manager. Director Giorgio Tacchia will replace Marilungo, who has resigned from her role previously.
The bombshell news comes after Juventus registered a record loss of £219m (€254m) for the 2021/22 season. The Old Lady have been in decline for several years, with performances on the pitch sliding.
After winning nine successive Serie A titles between 2012 and 2020, Juve have finished fourth in the past few campaigns. They have not made it past the round of 16 in the last three editions of the Champions League.
They are currently third in the Italian top flight, behind Napoli and AC Milan and were knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages in October.
