Fabio Paratici has had his 30-month ban from football activity extended worldwide by FIFA after initially only being imposed by the Italian FA. As the man in charge of footballing operations at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, this has descended Spurs' search for a new manager into chaos.
The Tottenham director of football was implicated for his senior role in former club Juventus' alleged financial mismanagement, leading to suspensions being handed down to a number of key officials. The punishment also included a 15-point deduction for the Italian giants in January at the conclusion of the long-running Prisma investigation that ended with a hearing at Italy's federal court of appeal.
A FIFA statement read: “FIFA can confirm that following a request by the Italian FA (FIGC), the chairperson of FIFA disciplinary committee has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by FIGC on several football officials to have worldwide effect.”
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Both Juventus and Paratici have denied wrongdoing and appealed the decision. The news will likely mean Paratici's Spurs tenure will come to a premature end after joining the club in the summer of 2021.
Coming at such a crucial time for the club, this will come as a blow to the north London outfit who are seeking Antonio Conte's replacement as manager and planning for the summer transfer window. Paratici was due to be a key figure in appointing Spurs' next manager, but the club will now have to conduct this process in his absence.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing during his time in north London, and Tottenham are yet to comment with it unclear when they learnt of this development. This comes just hours after the 50-year-old broke his silence on Conte's exit in a video posted to Tottenham's social media accounts.
Paratici offered his sympathies to the outgoing Conte after suffering personal heartache this campaign, but believes that club has made the right decision in parting company and appointing Cristian Stellini and Ryan Mason in a short-term manner. During the in-house interview, Paratici said: "We know how difficult this season was for him [Conte] personally, Gian Piero [Ventrone] died and [Gianluca] Vialli and then his surgery.
"The club supported him a lot with it and everyone is close to each other but then we arrive in this mutual agreement, and I think the decision that we made was the right decision for everyone." He also reiterated how their full focus was on the final 10 games of the season and that no decision on a permanent successor was imminent.
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