Tottenham Hotspur’s managing director Fabio Paratici has been banned from English football, just hours after he posted videos on social media urging Spurs fans to get behind the team in the wake of Antonio Conte’s departure.
The Italian was part of the Juventus set up that was found guilty of breaching financial regulations during the Coronavirus pandemic, and he was handed a 30 month ban from football, though that initially only applied to Italian football.
However, FIFA have since expanded that ban worldwide, meaning that Paratici will be calling time on his Spurs career, having joined in the summer of 2021.
“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”, an official statement confirmed.
Both Paratici and Juventus have appealed against the decision, which saw the club itself docked 15 points this season. A decision is expected to be reached on April 19th, and Paratici himself has denied any wrongdoing.
The news comes merely hours after a long statement was published on the Tottenham website (now deleted), in which the Italian issued a rally call and demanded that ‘everyone has to be focused on the last part of the season’.
🎙 “We will fight to achieve our targets. We are prepared to fight until the end of the season. Everyone has to be focused on the last part of the season”
An update from Fabio Paratici pic.twitter.com/TG6v0cTZVU
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 28, 2023
It also throws a spanner in the works of any summer planning, and creates yet more chaos amid what could be significant regime change across the board this summer.
Spurs are back in action on Monday, when they travel to Merseyside to take on Everton at Goodison Park.
