The entire board of directors at Serie A giants Juventus, including club president Andrea Agnelli, has resigned with immediate effect amid an ongoing investigation by prosecutors and financial regulators into allegations of false accounting and market manipulation.
The club and its owners have denied any wrongdoing.
Agnelli and the club’s vice president Pavel Nedved, the Czech footballer who represented Juventus between 2001 and 2009, are among those currently under investigation after Juventus posted a loss of more than $263 million (£220 million) for last season, the highest such financial loss in the club’s history.
“The Board of Directors, considering the focus and relevance of the pending legal and technical-accounting issues, have deemed it in the best interest to recommend that Juventus adopt a new Board of Directors to deal with these issues,” the club announced in a statement.
News of the cull in the Juve boardroom led to a 5% drop in the club’s market price when trading opened on Tuesday morning and has left the Italian giants with its lowest valuation in five years.
Andrea Agnelli is a descendant of Giovanni Agnelli, one of the founders of Fiat which would go on to become the largest producer of automobiles in Italy, and he has been in charge of the club since 2010.
He was one of the principal figures behind last year's ill-fated European Super League proposal – with Juventus, along with Real Madrid and Barcelona, still remaining attached to the project despite several other large European football clubs withdrawing due to extreme fan backlash.
Under Andrea Agnelli’s stewardship, Juventus dominated Italian football and won nine league titles in succession until their run ended in the 2019-20 campaign.
It was also confirmed on Tuesday that Turin-born Gianluca Ferrero will replace Agnelli at Juve, with the club adding in a statement that he “has solid experience and the necessary technical skills, as well as a genuine passion for Juventus, which make him the most suitable person to hold the position.”
It remains to be seen what action – if any – will be taken against the club if it is found to have broken financial rules.
Juventus had previously been involved in a separate scandal following the 2005-06 season, in which the club was found to have acted improperly by petitioning to have favorable referees officiate their matches. They were subsequently stripped of a Serie A title and relegated to the second tier of Italian football as punishment.