Fabio Paratici: Tottenham MD banned worldwide - Spurs seek clarification
- Published
Fabio Paratici spent 11 years at Juventus before being appointed Tottenham managing director in June 2021
Tottenham Hotspur managing director Fabio Paratici may have to step away from his role after Fifa extended his suspension "to have worldwide effect".
Paratici was given a 30-month ban from Italian football in January after his former club Juventus were found guilty of false accounting.
The 50-year-old was sporting director and managing director at Juve before joining Tottenham in June 2021.
Spurs said they were "urgently seeking further clarification from Fifa".
The Premier League club said in a statement, external that the decision had been taken "with no advance notice to any of the parties involved".
Paratici and Juventus have both appealed against Fifa's ruling.
The extension of the ban coincides with Tottenham's search for a new manager following the departure of Antonio Conte.
Conte left Spurs on Sunday with the club fourth in the Premier League but having been knocked out of the Champions League and FA Cup in recent weeks.
Paratici told the club website on Tuesday that he and the club were "focused" on moving forward and finding a replacement.
"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," a statement from the world football's governing body said.
Tottenham said: "This committee deliberation has been taken with no advance notice to any of the parties involved. We are urgently seeking further clarification from Fifa as to the details of the extension and its variance from the FIGC sanction."
The club added they were only informed of the decision on Wednesday afternoon.
"We should like to make clear that when Fabio conducted the interview on club channels yesterday neither he nor the club had any indication of this decision being made by Fifa, based on the fact the the FIGC sanction was taken on 20 January 2023 and remains subject to an appeal on 19 April 2023," the statement said.
The entire board of Juventus, including president Andrea Agnelli and vice-president Pavel Nedved, resigned in November as a police investigation into the club's transfer activity continued.
Juventus were subsequently docked 15 points by the FIGC in January. The Serie A club were accused of fixing their balance sheets by artificial gains from club transfers.
Analysis
BBC Sport's Simon Stone
The absence of Fabio Paratici's name from the statement confirming Antonio Conte's exit that Tottenham released on Sunday night was taken by some as evidence the Italian's tenure was in the balance too.
That seemed to be answered by Paratici's statement to Tottenham's own media yesterday.
Yet the rallying cry came with an asterisk because chairman Daniel Levy must have known this development was inevitable from the moment Paratici was given his 30-month ban by the Italian FA in January.
Paratici says he has done nothing wrong and Juventus continue to protest their innocence, but this must be decided through an appeal and the resolution will not be swift.
It puts more attention on Levy, the top-flight's longest-serving chairperson, who has a massive call to make over Conte's replacement, as well as the future of Harry Kane and the need to steady Spurs' ship to give them a chance of making the top four.
This day was expected, but it merely adds to the sense of uncertainty at what should be one of the most stable Premier League clubs.
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