Vincent Chaudel is a marketing expert and co-founder of the Sport Business Observatory, the Think Tank of the In&Sport firm whose vocation is to provide analyzes and decryptions on the evolution of sport, both in its economic dimension and social. Article written in collaboration with François-Xavier Gérard, member of the Sport Business Observatory and expert in organizational management.
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Since May 2021 legal cases have been bubbling in the most successful Italian club.
Between the Turin public prosecutor's office and the Italian federation, the charges brought by the prosecutors were formalized in a request for indictment for 13 suspects, including president Andrea Agnelli, vice-president Pavel Nedved and a host of senior club decision-makers.
Thursday, December 1, the prosecution confirmed their referral to justice.
Juve Swiss Ramble losses
At the heart of the scandal, potential accounting irregularities aimed at inflating a balance sheet that has been largely in deficit in recent years.
Of the €322 million in capital gains from transfers over the period 2018-2021, 282 are considered suspect by the prosecution, which even qualifies as “fictitious” certain transactions estimated at 155 million.
The courts evoke "false exchanges" of players used to soften the (disastrous) financial performance of the club listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (-254 million € in net profit, Italian record).
Also fictitious, invoices paid to certain agents.
According to the prosecution, "Juventus paid agents sums for services which were not rendered and which, therefore, are considered non-existent,
The transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo, supposed to allow the club to once again reach the European summits, is also mentioned.
The deferred payments of certain parts of his salary, and that of other players, would not have been communicated, neither to the investors nor to the accounting department … In question: a secret agreement between Juventus and CR7 relating to an amount of €20 million.
The case dates back to the Covid era, during which all the players had officially agreed to forgo 4 months of salary.
But in parallel and in private, a document signed by the club and CR7 recording this "bonus" would have been found by the investigators.
The Portuguese player, at this time the highest salary in Serie A with 31 million euros net annually, is now claiming the
Capital increases vs stock market dive
The few days of euphoria and stock market speculation around the Super League project are now a long way off.
On April 19, 2021, the holding company of the Agnelli family, Exor, holder of 63.8% of the club, was proud of a take-off of the action at + 10% at the start of the session in front of a formula visibly considered attractive by the investors.
At the time, around a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, and already far from the record of December 2019 ($1.85 billion), the market cap necessarily and sharply plummeted following these rumors and then accusations, to reach less of 700 million at the beginning of December.
Prior to this, Exor had negotiated two major capital increases.
The first in 2019, to the tune of €300 million, for which Jeep, main sponsor, had put its hand in the wallet.
Small arrangements between friends since Jeep belongs to the Fiat automobile group, itself owned by the holding … Exor.
Enough to fuel comparisons with the sponsorship of PSG by Qatar.
The second, in 2021, was intended to cover the significant losses that the Bianconeri would have suffered during the Covid, the Serie A having been the hardest hit of the Big 5 with -18% in income according to Deloitte.
The prestigious Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan are participating in the financing round for a final amount of €400 million.
The Super League as a lifeline
Difficult not to link the economic difficulties of the club with the Super League project, carried among others by Juventus d'Agnelli.
If the discussions around a closed (or semi-closed) European league have been going well since the 90s to the chagrin of FIFA and UEFA, it is the Florentino Perez version of April 18, 2021 which breaks through the first .
Real Madrid CF, FC Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester United FC, Manchester City FC, Chelsea FC, Arsenal FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Liverpool FC, Juventus FC, Inter Milan and AC Milan, 12 clubs among the Top 20 in terms of fanbase, enough to make this project “bankable”.
But very stealthily.
48 hours later, in front of the popular and institutional revolt causing the withdrawal of the
Juve in freefall Iquii Sport
Real project or pressure on UEFA at a time when the body was studying the reform of the Champions League 2024, the temptation was in any case strong for a club which closed its 2020-2021 accounts with a deficit of 210 million €.
Because the promise was enticing.
On its website still online (thesuperleague.com), the financial arguments relate to payments that should "exceed 10 billion euros during the initial commitment period of the clubs" and an amount "of 3, €5 billion just to support their infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of the COVID pandemic.”
Something to fill in some holes...
The athlete as the icing on the cake
But as it is not only with the blows of millions that one builds a team, the sporting decline is added to the note.
Author of a poor start to the season before catching up before the Qatari break, Allegri's men were eliminated from the Champions League in the group stages, and against opponents say "affordable".
The shortfall will reduce the year-end accounts by approximately €20 million.
The worst could still come from Europe.
On December 2, UEFA in turn announced an investigation into player contracts, transfers and operations with agents over the 2018-2020 period.
Sporting sanctions could therefore also be imposed, in a competition that has been fleeing Juve for 26 years and its last Champions League title (1995/1996).
The painful episode of the Super League could also resurface in memory of the European body…
For the time being, "immediate sporting sanctions" have already been demanded by Spanish Liga troublemaker Javier Tebas, in the extension of his April 2022 complaint against the Italian club for non-compliance with the rules of fair play. -financial play.
The outcome could prove fatal for a club whose budget is based more than 50% on TV rights (€253/480 million), and whose financial windfall from European TV rights was around €80 million. these last years.
Today, as a symbol or as an admission, it is an accountant who has been placed in command of this sinking ship.
Gianluca Ferrero, 59 and a native of Turin, also an auditor and director of several companies, has, according to the holding company Exor, "solid experience and the necessary technical skills, as well as a real passion for the Juventus club, which makes him the most suitable person for the position.
Financial scandal or accounting errors?
Innocent or guilty?
The Turin jersey has never worn black and white so well.
