Italian football giants Juventus are reportedly once again set to appeal Inter Milan’s 2006 Serie A title win, according to reports in Italy. A hearing date for later this month has also been scheduled.
Italian media outlet FCInternews reported that the Bionconeri are once again going to attempt to get the 2006 Scudetto awarded to them, after it was given to Inter off the back of the infamous Calciopoli scandal that struck Serie A almost two decades ago. The intent to re-appeal the decision was made clear by Juventus’ Annual Financial Report, ending on June 30th, 2022.
The Calciopoli scandal broke out in 2006 as a few of Italy’s biggest clubs were accused of tampering with refereeing selections, often exerting influence to choose a referee that will favour the team in question.
The clubs involved were AC Milan, Inter Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina, but it was Juventus that were at the heart of the indignity after it was revealed that Juve managing director at the time Luciano Maggi had a private, exclusive relationship with the allocation of match officials, which allowed him to select referees of his choice for the Bionconeri’s matches.
The ‘underground’ operation was discovered after many telephonic conversations were intercepted between team managers and the referees body, dating over the course of both the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 Serie A seasons.
Lazio, Fiorentina and Milan were all found guilty of being involved in the scandal, but were only punished by a means of fines, point deductions and not allowing crowds into the home games. Inter were declared innocent among all the drama.
Juventus were handed severe consequences for their major participation in the scandal. The Old Lady were relegated to Serie B, which saw them lose stars such as Patrick Vieira, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lilian Thuram. Furthermore, Juventus were given a 9-point deduction on top of their relegation, and had both their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles stripped of them, with the 2006 Scudetto being subsequently awarded to Inter.
Despite making a number of unsuccessful appeals to have the decision rescinded, Juve have sent another appeal through to the Lazio Regional Administrative Court, with the hearing set to happen on the 18th of October.
If this appeal proves to be successful, Juventus will regain the 2006 Scudetto, which they won on the pitch before it being stripped away. The title will be the Old Lady’s 37th success, almost double second-place AC Milan on 19 triumphs.
