Juventus have 15-point penalty quashed and make Serie A table look very different

Italy's highest sporting court says the case should be re-examined after Juventus were accused of fixing balance sheets by artificial gains from transfers.

The lifting of the points deduction means Juventus move up from seventh to third in the Serie A table.

The Serie A giants now sit third in the league table, forcing Milan giants Inter and AC out of the Champions League places with eight games to go. Three hours before their crucial Europa League quarter-final second leg away to Sporting Lisbon on Thursday, Juventus saw their Serie A penalty revoked pending a new trial which is to further clarify their capital gains controversy, meaning the FIGC Federal Court of Appeal must re-evaluate following its original decision in January.

Rather than Juve being cleared, the case will now return to the Italian Football Federation appeals court, the body which gave the initial punishment.

As a result of the decision, with eight games to go in the season, AC Milan are knocked out of the Champions League places while Roma drop to fourth.

Tottenham managing director of football Fabio Paratici lost his appeal against a 30-month ban as part of the same proceedings.

The former Juventus sporting director was one of 11 directors at the club, either former or still in place at the time of the ruling, who were sanctioned.

Paratici, former president Andrea Agnelli, former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene and sports director Federico Cherubini had their appeals rejected.

Also coming out of Italy, it's emerged that Fabio Paratici - the current Tottenham managing director formerly of Juve - has also seen appeal against his two-and-a-half year ban from football, extended globally by FIFA, rejected. The same applies for appeals for bans against former colleagues Andrea Agnelli and Federico Cherubini, although an appeal against Pavel Nedved's ban has been accepted.

Juventus' verdict had been increasingly likely since the three-hour hearing which took place at the Italian Council of Sports Guarantee on Wednesday afternoon. The FIGC didn't present any evidence at the appeal, leading to their place being taken by Italian National Olympic Committee prosecutor Ugo Taucer.

Former player and director Pavel Nedved, Paolo Garimberti and Enrico Vellano were successful with their appeals.