Juventus has lost 15 points in the current season by an Italian soccer court investigating its transfer dealings, the national soccer federation (FIGC) said in a statement.

 

The ruling, which also paint the clubs in very bad reputation, is tougher than a nine-point deduction a soccer prosecutor had requested earlier in the day during a hearing looking at the way Juventus and a number of other teams dealt with player exchange deals.

 

With 20 games left to play this season, Juve were third in Serie A with 37 points, 10 behind leaders Napoli. The deduction pushes them down into 10th place, outside the qualifying spots for lucrative European competition.

 

In a late-night statement, the court also imposed bans from holding office in Italian soccer on 11 past and present Juventus directors.

In the meantime, Juventus has revealed it would appeal to the country’s sports guarantee board once the reasons for the ruling were was made public.

“We consider this to be a blatant injustice also for millions of fans, which we trust will soon be remedied in the next court,” lawyers for the club said in a statement