Tag: Fabio Paratici

Is it bad when your director is banned worldwide by FIFA? Asking for Tottenham

It seems hard to be a director of football if you are banned from conducting any transfer business

FIFA has announced that Tottenham director of football Fabio Paratici’s 30-month ban in Italy is now in effect across the globe.

Paratici was handed the ban in January by Italy’s soccer federation (FIGC) amid his role in a scandal involving false transfer accounting that has seen Juventus given a 15-point penalty in the Serie A table.

After 11 years in the job, Paratici left his role as Juventus sporting director in 2021 to join Tottenham.

In a statement provided to multiple outlets, FIFA confirmed that Paratici’s ban in Italy is now worldwide.

“FIFA can confirm that following a request by the FIGC, the chairperson of FIFA Disciplinary Committee has decided to extend the sanctions imposed by FIGC on several football officials to have worldwide effect,” the statement read.

Sky Sports said that as part of the ban, Paratici is unable to conduct any sort of transfer activity directly, including talking to agents or negotiating deals. These seem like fairly important things for a director of football to be able to do, so it’s not clear how tenable Paratici’s role is at present.

Paratici was also set to lead the search for a replacement for ex-manager Antonio Conte, who left Spurs this week by mutual consent.

Paratici can, however, attend internal meetings at Spurs. So he’s got that going for him, which is nice.

After the announcement by FIFA, Tottenham responded in a terse statement, saying: “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.”

In any event, Paratici’s future may not be sorted until April 19, when an appeal will be held.

Should that appeal not go his way, Paratici’s tenure at Tottenham may end up being a pretty short one.

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