ROME, Aug 1: Disgraced Italian football giants Juventus on Tuesday lodged their appeal with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) against relegation to Serie B and a 17 point penalty for match-fixing seeking a reduction of their punishment.
However two other clubs found guilty of matchfixing Lazio and Fiorentina, who despite being reinstated into Serie A – though with 19 and 11 points having been docked – after an earlier appeal had said they would also appeal had yet to lodge their dossiers with CONI.
“For the moment Juventus is the only club to have lodged a dossier with us,” a CONI spokesman said.
No date for the hearing has yet been set, but there is a little elss urgency about the date after the announcement by the Professional League Clubs later on Tuesday that the Serie A and Serie B campaigns would start on the weekend of Sept 9 and 10 instead of Aug 27 as had been previously scheduled.
All three former club administrators, Juventus duo Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo - banned from football for five years - and AC Milan's Adriano Galliani, who copped a nine month suspension have lodged their dossiers with CONI.
AC Milan have decided not to appeal to CONI, having been docked eight points but permitted to retain their place in the Champions League, subject to UEFA's stamp of approval.
CONI's role is not to try the cases again but to find a compromise over the punishments that suits both those found guilty and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) – though a lot of observers have expressed their disdain at the leniency shown.
Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio have also said that they are prepared to go to court if they are not satisfied with the outcome.
The match-fixing scandal broke in May after transcripts of Moggi telling the head of Italy's referees association which officials to appoint to specific Juventus games were published in Italian newspapers.
Juventus – who have seen several of their players leave the club since the punishment was imposed – were also stripped of the Serie A titles they won in 2005-06 and in 2004-05.—AFP