Agnelli and Juve board resign following criminal probe into alleged hidden player payments

November 29 - In a coup, the entire Juventus board, including chairman Andrea Agnelli, resigned en masse, plunging one of the world's most famous clubs into the crisis.

This stunning development follows a preliminary investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office into fraudulent accounting for alleged hidden payments to players.

Prosecutors have been investigating since last year whether Juventus, which is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, collected illegal commissions on player transfers and loans. Agnelli, Vice President Pavel Nedved and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene are among 15 people likely to face trial.

Last month, Juventus pointed out that they had already been exonerated twice in the same case and that there was "nothing new".

But after a meeting on Monday, the board said in a statement that it "considers it to be in the corporate interest to recommend that Juventus appoint a new board to resolve these issues...given the relevance of the outstanding legal and technical/accounting issues."

Arrivabene has been asked to stay on for an interim period until a new board can be formed for the Turin giants, with a general meeting scheduled for January 18.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Juventus said 23 players had agreed to pay cuts for four months to help the club through the crisis. He claimed the players only gave up one month's wages.

Anything discovered by prosecutors will be forwarded to the Italian Federation (FIGC), which has the power to sanction clubs with a range of penalties from fines to expulsion from the league.

The club "will continue to cooperate with the supervisory and industry authorities", he said.

Agnelli is one of the most prominent figures in European football and a former president of the European Club Association.

In a letter to Juventus staff seen by Reuters, he described the company's situation as "delicate".

"When the team is not cohesive, it becomes vulnerable and it can be fatal," he wrote.

"That's when you have to keep calm and contain the damage: the company is going through a delicate phase and we are no longer coherent. Better to stop all together, giving a chance to a new team to turn the tide."

The massive resignation amid the ongoing investigation into Juve's finances caught everyone off guard.

Things were bad enough on the pitch after Juve suffered the humiliation of being knocked out of this season's Champions League in the group stage, forfeiting valuable revenue in the process.

Now the 'old lady' is also on her knees off the pitch in the latest scandal to plague the 34-time Italian league winners and two-time European champions.

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