Juventus has been making headlines recently after winning its appeal against a 15-point penalty imposed by Italy's soccer federation in January. The penalty was imposed on the team over alleged accounting breaches, specifically for artificially inflating the value of transfer fees to manipulate reported finances.
The investigation focused on the way Juventus valued players in swap deals with other clubs, such as the 2020 swap with Barcelona involving Miralem Pjanic and Arthur Melo. Both clubs listed the players' values at over $60 million, which raised eyebrows in light of FIFA's Financial Fair Play regulations. The allegations also drew scrutiny because Juventus is a publicly listed company.
The revocation of Juventus' penalty has significant ramifications not only for the team itself but for the rest of the teams in the top of the Serie A standings and potentially for the semifinals of the Champions League.
Previously, Juventus had little hope of qualifying for next season's Champions League through Serie A after being knocked out in the group stage and receiving the 15-point penalty. However, now that it's back in third place, the team is currently in a position to qualify for the Champions League through its position in the league table.
The top four teams in Serie A automatically qualify for the Champions League, and while Napoli is expected to win the league, Juventus is now two points behind Lazio and three points ahead of Roma, six points ahead of AC Milan, and eight points ahead of Inter Milan. The appeal decision has hurt Inter Milan the most, as it's now five points out of the top four instead of three points behind fourth place and has to pass two teams instead of one to reach the top four.
The decision also affects AC Milan, which is now in fifth place and three points behind the top four instead of sitting in fourth place. AC Milan and Inter Milan will play each other in the semifinals of the Champions League after their quarterfinal wins this week, and the winner of the Champions League automatically qualifies for the following year's competition. This means that the semifinal winner, if it's outside of the top four, may also have a spot in next season's competition on the line.
Overall, Juventus' successful appeal of its penalty has created a major shakeup in the Serie A standings and has significant implications for the upcoming Champions League competition.
