Tottenham’s Fabio Paratici has Italian football ban extended worldwide by FIFA
Tottenham Hotspur managing director of football Fabio Paratici has had his Italian FA (FIGC) ban for alleged financial malpractice extended by FIFA — further jeopardising his position at the Premier League side.
Paratici was scheduled to lead the search for Tottenham’s next head coach after Antonio Conte left the club by mutual consent on Sunday.
FIFA confirmed it has extended Paratici’s 30-month ban on Wednesday morning via a statement released to The Athletic.
It read: “FIFA can confirm that following a request by the FIGC, the chairperson of FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by FIGC on several football officials to have worldwide effect.”
The 50-year-old is one of 11 former Juventus executives who were banned from Italian football after the FIGC used new evidence gathered in a separate criminal investigation, known as Prisma, to reopen a case it lost this time last year.
All 11 deny any wrongdoing and an appeal against the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) sanctions will be heard by the Italian Olympic Committee on April 19.
Why was Paratici leading Tottenham’s manager hunt before his ban was extended?
What does Paratici’s ban mean for Spurs?
Jack Pitt-Brooke, Tottenham correspondent: If Fabio Paratici is now banned from football everywhere — including England — and not just in Italy, then it will surely mean he can no longer continue as Tottenham’s managing director of football. It will be deeply embarrassing for the club on many levels.
First, because they created this huge job, re-organising the structure of the club, for an individual who it seems can no longer continue in his role. It raises serious questions about whether any due diligence was conducted when Daniel Levy chose to appoint him to the job in May 2021.
Then there is the question of how Spurs have responded since Paratici was first given the ban in Italy. As a club, they have said nothing at all about Paratici’s future. When it looked as if he might be getting sidelined at Spurs — he was not mentioned on the official statement to announce Antonio Conte’s departure on Sunday night — he was then brought out for an interview on the club website on Tuesday evening.
That interview was still on the Spurs site on Wednesday morning, just as FIFA confirmed that the Italian FA’s banned list would now be banned from football everywhere.
Who else has been banned?
The FIGC ban included 10 Juventus executives, as well as Paratici. That covered then-club chairman Andrea Agnelli, who was hit with a 24-month ban, as well as former Juventus player turned director Pavel Nedved, who was banned for eight months.
All 11 individuals have had their Italian football ban extended by FIFA. They are as follows:
- Fabio Paratici
- Federico Cherubini
- Andrea Agnelli
- Pavel Nedved
- Enrico Vellano
- Paolo Garimberti
- Assia Grazioli Venier
- Maurizio Arrivabene
- Caitlin Mary Hughes
- Daniela Marilungo
- Francesco Roncaglio
What are Juventus accused of?
Juventus are accused of false corporate communications, false communications to the stock market and obstruction of a supervisory authority (CONSOB), with prosecutors alleging that transfer revenue was artificially inflated in a bid to balance their books.
They have since been handed a 15-point deduction for this Serie A season.
Explained: Why Juventus were docked points — and what it means
What about Paratici’s ‘black book’?
Paratici’s ‘black book’ was of particular interest to investigators during the search of Juventus’ premises.
The piece of paper, entitled ‘Libro Nero FP’ – ‘Black Book FP’, was described as a “disturbing” document in the written reasons for the 15-point penalty that the football Court of Appeal handed out to Juventus.
The ‘black book’ included conversations with Federico Cherubini, who was the men’s team director at Juventus.
On that piece of paper, Cherubini lists four sections: management, strategy, relationships, behaviour. “How did we get here?” he wrote. “Senseless signings.” Dejan Kulusevski’s name is in brackets after this, as an example of a player for whom, in Cherubini’s opinion, Juventus paid over the odds, agreeing a deal worth €44million on the back of four pulsating months at Parma.
Further down, under the header ‘Strategy’, is a line with ‘Excessive use artificial plusvalenze’ with an arrow pointing to ‘Immediate benefit’ and ‘Amortisation load’.
When TV show Report reached Paratici for comment regarding the accusatory hypothesis laid out by public prosecutors in Turin, he said: “Everyone has their own view of course, but as you say, now it’s really one-sided. There’s someone on the attack and someone else who can only defend and can’t pass the halfway line.”
The Juventus scandal is awful for the whole of Serie A. It could be crippling
What did Paratici say on Tuesday?
Paratici commented on Conte’s departure and Tottenham’s aims for the rest of the season earlier this week.
He also discussed Tottenham’s search for a new head coach and sent a personal message to supporters of the north London side.
Speaking in an extended interview with Tottenham’s official website, Paratici said: “My message for the supporters is to continue to support like they have done until now because they are really amazing and support to the team, support Cristian, Ryan, all the staff. Ten games to go and, to achieve our target, we need the fans, of course.
“We know how difficult this season was for him (Conte) personally, Gian Piero (Ventrone) died and (Gianluca) Vialli and then his surgery. The club supported him a lot with it and everyone is close to each other but then we arrive in this mutual agreement, and I think the decision that we made was the right decision for everyone.
“We do not speak about other coaches or follow the speculation in the media because it is just speculation. We are focused, we are now concentrating on helping Cristian and helping the staff, Ryan, the players. I think, today, we have to be focused in our squad, in our manager because it is an important moment.”
