Juventus finally has a piece of good news, off the field, as the case against the club and Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez was dropped by the Italian FA due to lack of evidence. In a statement the FIGC stated, “not enough evidence to prove that there has been unlawful conduct relevant to the scope of the federal sports system.”
The case came to attention of the Italian FA when Suarez arrived in Italy to sign with Juventus in September of 2020, at the time the Barcelona forward was looking for a new club after then manager Ronald Koeman made it clear Suarez was not in his plans. Suarez took the Italian citizenship test at Perugia’s University for Foreigners; Suarez passed the test in an effort to rush Italian citizenship papers so the striker wouldn’t take up a non-EU player spot.
What led to the investigation was a suspicion of preferential treatment, and accusations that the striker had received the questions in advance in preparation to pass the test and sign as soon as possible with Juventus.
Juventus cleared of Luis Suarez Italian citizenship test case
Luis Suarez of Atletico de Madrid and David Alaba of Real Madrid CF receive yellow cards (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
Juventus would admit no wrongdoing but the Italian FA went ahead with an investigation, this stalled the transfer and Suarez instead ended up signing with Atletico Madrid. There Suarez would capture the LaLiga title with the Madrid club.
For Juventus, this is a piece of good news as the club is still under investigation for altering transfer values of players to comply with financial fair play rules. If found guilty the Turin club could be sent to Serie B. Juventus were relegated for their participation in the Calciopoli scandal in 2006.
