Tottenham exec Fabio Paratici resigns after losing appeal over worldwide ban stemming from Juventus scandal

Fabio Paratici has resigned from his role as Tottenham’s managing director of football with immediate effect after his unsuccessful appeal against a 30 month worldwide ban.

Paratici failed to have overturned the ban imposed on him by Italian authorities, a ban which was subsequently extended to cover every country by FIFA, for his involvement in the false accounting practices of Juventus, where he was sporting director from 2010 to 2021, when he joined Spurs. 

The club said in a statement, “Whilst there continues to be a dispute as to the scope and extent of the ban, the current worldwide ban prevents Fabio from fulfilling his duties as our managing director of football. Fabio has consequently taken the decision to resign from his position at the Club with immediate effect to focus on his legal position in respect of the FIGC and FIFA rulings.”

Paratici had taken a step back from his day to day responsibilities at Tottenham after FIFA’s decision to extend the ban worldwide and his exit comes at a difficult time for the club, who are searching for a new head coach after Antonio Conte left last month. Chairman Daniel Levy said, “This has been a stressful time for Fabio and his family. We wanted to ensure that we allowed for due process to be followed.  Fabio is a man who lives and breathes football – we wish him well.

“As outlined in our year end results, we started several months ago to restructure our football operations and last week announced the appointment of Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer to head up all the departments. We shall continue to strengthen our football functions over the coming months.”

Paratici had been involved in the early work of drawing up a shortlist of candidates to succeed Conte and was said to favor a move for the out of work former Barcelona and Spain head coach Luis Enrique. Munn is expected to play a significant role in the process not just of finding a new head coach, but also a successor for Paratici. It remains to be seen, however, whether and to what extent Levy, who pushed through the appointment of Conte in November 2021, will involve himself in the hunt for both individuals.

Questions will be asked over what Spurs knew when in appointing Paratici considering investigations into Juventus were already underway at that point. Paratici’s time in the Premier League began inauspiciously as he labored through several false starts, including a fan rebellion that saw Gennaro Gattuso fall out of the running, before ultimately appointing Nuno Espirito Santo. The former Wolves coach would last just 17 games before being sacked. The Italian departs Tottenham with a mixed record in the transfer market as well, the area where he was supposed to make a profound impact on the club. The signings of Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur from Juventus in January 2022 may have ultimately been the difference makers in securing top four football for Conte’s side but much of the rest of the £200 million he has spent has not paid dividends, most notably in the likes of Emerson Royal, Ivan Perisic and club record signing Richarlison, the £60m forward who is yet to score a Premier League goal.

Though Paratici’s appeal was unsuccessful on Thursday, Juventus have been re-awarded the 15 points that the the Italian FA initially deducted from them in January, propelling them from seventh in the Serie A standings to third. A final verdict in the case will come from the Italian FA’s court of appeals.