Cristiano Ronaldo And Other Players May Face A Month's Suspension In Juventus' Alleged Financial Scam

Juventus' punishment for alleged financial scam could stretch to the football players who played for them during that time. It could potentially lead to suspensions of 23 players, including Cristiano Ronaldo.

Last week, Serie A giants Juventus was handed a 15 point deduction, after a probe into their finances, reported Sport Bible. Initially, prosecutors had asked for a nine point deduction. But a harsher punishment was given instead, after which the club dropped from third in Serie A to 10th. The punishment ended their chances of qualifying for next season's Champions League through the league. Now they will have to win the Europa League in order to qualify. The football club could have its points returned to it if it is successful with an appeal.

But Italian journalist Paolo Ziliani said that 23 players who turned out for the Turin-based club during that time might have to face suspensions for their part. Ziliani shared that if the players are found to have taken falsely lower wages then they could be hit with a more than 30-day suspension. It's not necessary for those players to be with the Turin club. This means that Al-Nassr could find itself without Ronaldo for a time. Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur are also said to be part of the list.

Ziliani said that as part of the probe, all members involved were "questioned and admitted the circumstances." He shared that two players, Matthijs de Ligt and Mattia De Sciglio, provided the magistrates with a copy of the WhatsApp chat in which" Giorgio Chiellini explained the scam to everyone."

Ronaldo, who played for the club from 2018 to 2020, could be amongst those players. It was reported earlier that he could even sue the club. It was claimed that the club actually owed Ronaldo nearly 20 million pounds ($2,46,38,000), based on a document that they'd signed but not sent to him.

Ronaldo will probably be happier to miss games for his Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr than he would have been if he'd transferred to a big European club. He reportedly split from his agent Jorge Mendes. Ronaldo reportedly told Mendes to get him a move to Chelsea or Bayern Munich, or he'd fire him.