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Chievo deducted three points for falsifying player sale accounts

Chievo have been docked three points and fined €200,000 after being found guilty of incorrect accountancy practices in the relation to the transfer of players to and from Cesena over the past year, with their president Luca Campedelli banned for three months.

The punishment, announced by the Italian FA's (FIGC) state tribunal on Thursday, will be applied to the current Serie A campaign, meaning the Flying Donkeys will drop to -2 in the standings having drawn one and lost two of their first three games of the season.

Chievo have said they will appeal the decision.

"We are amazed and dissatisfied by the outcome of today's ruling," Chievo said on their website. "We firmly believe, now more than ever, the club has always acted with honesty and transparency, and the investigations by the prosecutor were not carried out properly.

"We therefore believe Chievo Verona does not deserve this reduced penalty, which for that matter is clearly the result of the awareness on the part of the court of the weakness of the prosecution's case. We will therefore appeal, confident the sporting justice will at the end recognise our reasoning."

Chievo originally faced the prospect of being relegated to Serie B had a punishment been applied to last season. However, an initial process into their transfer activity was declared null and void by the FIGC sports courts after Campedelli was not given the opportunity to present his version of events.

With the Serie A and Serie B seasons now underway, retrospective punishment could no longer be applied and, after Campedelli was this time heard during the process, the presiding judge determined a three-point punishment for the current season would be adequate.

Previously, the state prosecutor had suggested the Verona-based club should be docked 15 points and Campedelli banned for three years.

He and his club have now been found guilty of inflating the value of largely youth players sold between themselves and Cesena between 2015 and 2018 in order to enhance their respective club values and ensure they would obtain licences for the past three seasons.

Cesena went bankrupt this summer and the case against them has since been dropped, although their advisors Guido Aldini and Samuele Mariotti have been banned from assuming any role within football for one month and 15 days.