Ziliani brands Juventus the Italian Manchester City and denounces systemic shame

Paolo Ziliani contrasts the swift, uncompromising response of English football to the Manchester City financial probe with the muted, complicit silence of Italian football after the Juventus investigations, arguing that both systems betray the sport’s integrity.

English resolve versus Italian inertia

In England, authorities have pursued Manchester City relentlessly for alleged financial misconduct spanning nine years, demanding title stripping and even suggesting a return to amateur status. Ziliani points out that the Premier League, clubs and politicians have united in condemnation, creating a “collective indignation” that reverberates across the sport.

By comparison, he says, the Italian system – from the FIGC hierarchy to Serie A executives and the national media – has turned a blind eye to the Prisma Inquiry of 2023, which exposed systematic financial and sporting violations by Juventus over many seasons.

Judicial findings and institutional cover‑up

Ziliani notes that in 2022 magistrates uncovered concrete evidence of Juventus’ illicit practices, and in May 2023 the FIGC, then led by president Giovanni Gravina, released the club “in liberty” despite the damning documentation. He describes this as a “360‑degree omertà” that involved the sport minister Andrea Abodi, former FIGC president Gianni Malagò, Lega Serie A AD Luca De Siervo, federal prosecutor Daniele Chine and General Prosecutor of Sport Paolo Taucer.

The journalist adds that Serie A club presidents, league officials and even mainstream media joined the silence, failing to challenge the “great shame” that he believes the Italian football establishment has become.

Ziliani’s rallying call

“Vergogna italiana,” Ziliani declares, urging every figure he names – from Abodi to the club presidents – to resign and apologise. He argues that while the English side castigates Manchester City for “falsifying championships,” the same outrage is absent when Juventus allegedly secured nine titles through wrongdoing.

He stresses that only a handful of voices, including his own, have continued to denounce the scandal, describing the broader community as “a flock of fearful, bleating sheep” that refused to act when the “Palazzo del calcio” engineered Juventus’s escape.

Ziliani concludes that the Italian football world must confront its own corruption, demanding that the Juventus‑like “Manchester City of Serie A” be prosecuted, judged and punished as the evidence warrants.