The involvement of Nedved is the worst part! How is the public reacting to Juventus’ punishment for transfer fraud?

Juventus received some unpleasant news on Friday night. They face a points deduction for cheating on transfers between 2018 and 2020, with punishments in the form of bans from football handed out to the men involved. Pavel Nedved is not missing either. How is the public reacting?

Is the Champions League a thing of the past for next season? Quite possibly. And European cups in general. Juventus have dropped from the top four of the table to the middle of the table, specifically to the tenth position, due to the deduction of 15 points.

This is a penalty for transfer fraud. This is because between 2018 and 2020, the management illegally took commissions and reported false profits to investors. The fraud allegedly involved 30 different transfers, mainly involving player swaps.

In addition to the club, former officials also received punishment. The highest penalty was given to former sporting director Fabio Paratici. He cannot work in football for two and a half years.

Former chairman Andrea Agnelli and former managing director Maurizio Arrivabene must not play football for two years. Former Juventus vice-president and club legend Pavel Nedved fared much better. He was given an eight-month suspension.

Nedved, by the way, was the only one of the punished officials for whom the federation originally wanted a higher punishment. Specifically, a one-year suspension.

Public reaction

This is a big moment for Italian football. After all, it’s not the first time that some dirty tricks have been discovered. Moreover, in this millennium, it’s not the first time for Juventus either. The latter has been punished in the past for match-fixing by being expelled from the top competition and stripped of its title.

Pavel Nedved, an outstanding footballer at the time, was not absent either, and he also helped to fight back a quick return to the elite. It was this that puzzled one football fan on social media.

“It’s Nedved’s involvement that’s the worst part. He suffered a relegation to Serie B himself because of the then management and still had the stomach to put the club at further risk like that. Disgusting,” Twitter user Jiri Vencovsky let his voice be heard.

Juventus, however, is not a popular club in Italy.

So the fans of its rivals are celebrating and are very happy. Especially Napoli, which has lost one of its title chasers.

Parody Twitter accounts have also taken aim at the Turin club, specifically the Troll Football account has published several posts concerning the whole affair.

Including a hilariously altered logo in response to the 15-point deduction.

However, fans are also noticing that Juventus are in financial trouble in general and this punishment may put them in existential trouble. There is also a lot of talk that since this is the second time this millennium that Juventus has cheated, they might as well deserve to be banned from the competition.

Then in the Czech Republic, there have been various allusions to domestic football as Nedved could choose a position in the management of Viktoria Plzen in his next decision on what to do after his ban expires.

At times, there were also reminders of how in the autumn, the boss of Prague’s Slavia, Jaroslav Tvrdík, claimed that he would be honoured to work with Nedvěd in the management of the club.

Source: Serie A, FIGC, Twitter