Juventus have been ordered to pay their former player Cristiano Ronaldo more than €9.7million ($10.35m, £8.3m) plus interest in back wages by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).
Ronaldo, 39, played for the Italian club between 2018 and 2021 with the back payment related to his agreement with Juventus to defer part of his wages during the Covid pandemic.
Juventus said in a statement on Wednesday that they will “review the decision made by the (FIGC) arbitration board” and noted that the decision recognised “the absence of fraud” by the club, whose conduct “did not affect” Ronaldo’s willingness to “enter into such a compensation reduction agreement.”
The Italian club added that they had been ordered to make the €9.7m payment due to their “pre-contractual liability” resulting from the “failure of negotiations” with the player.
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Some Juventus players agreed to defer four months’ worth of their salaries in March 2020 and April 2021 as the club were struggling financially, but some individual player agreements were also reached.
Ronaldo, according to the documentation, agreed to defer a portion of his wages in an agreement with Juventus, but he was not reimbursed the agreed amount.
Ronaldo’s initial request was for a back payment of €19.5m, but the FIGC arbitration on the matter acknowledged contributory negligence between the parties and ruled upon the amount of €9,774,166.66, plus late payment interest and legal costs.
Ronaldo scored 101 goals in three seasons at Juventus (Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The FIGC board, comprised of Gianroberto Villa, Roberto Sacchi and Leandro Cantamessa, decided upon the monies owed by Juventus, who had admitted the non-payment.
Ronaldo joined Juventus from Real Madrid in 2018 and scored 101 goals across 134 appearances for the club, with whom he won five domestic trophies including Serie A titles in 2019 and 2020.
The Portugal international, currently playing for Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, left Juventus to rejoin Manchester United in August 2021.
(Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)
