Juventus will be welcomed back into the fold of Europe’s elite clubs following their leading role in the rebel European Super League at a Board meeting of the European Club’s Association in Doha on Friday.
The move to make peace with Juventus by the ECA follows the resignation of president Andrea Agnelli amidst fraud allegations last month, and represents an attempt to split them from the other remaining Super League rebels, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The original 12 Super League clubs, including the Premier League’s Big Six, all resigned from the ECA when attempting to form the ill-fated ESL last year, but all of them other than Juventus, Barcelona and Real have since rejoined.
Those three clubs remain adamant that the ESL project is still alive and are waiting for an interim judgement from the European Court of Justice next week over whether UEFA’s opposition is a breach of European Union law.
A non-binding opinion by the ECJ advocate general is due next Thursday from Luxembourg. The judgement will come after a new company - A22 - was launched last month with the backing of Barcelona and Madrid, to advocate for a reshaped Super League. Sources close to the project claim it will not feature the guaranteed places for the biggest clubs that sparked such anger with the original proposal.
The ECA are ready to extend an olive branch to Juventus however following the departure of Agnelli, who has been a vocal critic of UEFA and was a key advisor behind the ESL.
In this opening address the Board ECA chairman Nasser Al-Khelfaifi is expected to welcome Juventus back into the football family by extending an invitation to join to the club’s new chief executive, Maurizio Scanavino.
The entire Juventus Board resigned after their financial statements were challenged Italian prosecutors and the market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation. The club have denied any wrongdoing.
Juventus finished fourth in Serie A last season and made a loss of £220m, an Italian record.