By Bernhard Krieger Aug 24, 2006, 13:07 GMT
Rome - Italian football club Juventus on Thursday formally appealed at a civil court against sanctions imposed in a match-fixing affair, local news reports said.
The move comes despite a warning from the world governing body FIFA that it could suspend World Cup winners Italy and all its clubs from international competition if Juve went beyond sports authorities with its appeal.
The Italian football federation FIGC swiftly announced it will impose its own sanctions against the Turin club in order to fend off the looming FIFA threat.
But Juventus were seemingly undeterred and brought their appeal before an administrative court as decided on Monday, with a hearing reportedly set for September 6.
'The procedure is underway,' Juventus president Giovanni Cobolli Gigli told the ANSA news agency.
Cobolli Gigli said the club made the move because it felt treated unfairly compared to the other clubs implicated in the sports fraud affair which centres on alleged influence of clubs on the choice of referees for Serie A games in 2004/2005.
In a final FIGC ruling from late July, Lazio and Fiorentina were allowed to stay in the top flight instead of an original demotion to Serie B. They also received points penalties along with AC Milan.
Juve, by contrast, were confirmed to play in Serie B next season and to lose their 2005 and 2006 league titles. The Turin club had only its points penalty reduced from 30 to 17.
Juve sports director Jean-Claude Blanc said that 'FIFA and FIGC know that a civil court judge will view the case in a different light' and insisted that Juve wants to get back into Serie A with 'a maximum 20 points' docked.
Juve lawyers insisted that they have every right to go before the administrative court and seemingly hope that the case is immediately passed on to the European Court of Justice.
FIFA insists that all disputes must be solved by sports authorities alone to guarantee the independence of football - the highest arbitration authority being the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport which Juve has not called.
In case of violations FIFA reserves the right to impose harsh sanctions culminating in the suspension of national federations from all international events.
If FIFA decides to suspend Italy, the World Cup winners could be barred from the start of the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign which they are due to start September 2 against Lithuania. Clubs could be left out of the European Champions League and UEFA Cup.
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