Cristiano Ronaldo and The Millions Owed by Juventus
The Portuguese player, now with Al-Nassr, won the appeal against Juventus, the team he belonged to from 2018 to 2021, regarding a dispute over deferred wages during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the Italian club will have to pay him that amount.
The news, reported by Italian media, refers to an agreement reached by Juventus with several of its players in 2020, during the year of Covid-19, to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic.
Initially, the agreement with the Portuguese star was for almost $21.3 million, but the Arbitration Tribunal of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) reduced that amount by half.
After the club failed to fulfill its part of the agreement, the Portuguese footballer initiated legal proceedings against Juventus.
The so-called "secret letter" from Cristiano in Italy, a document that Juventus concealed at the time, revealed the club's agreement with Cristiano, in which it committed to paying him $21.1 million, exactly the amount corresponding to his salary for four months.
Juventus argued that it had agreed to a salary reduction with its players to mitigate the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic. However, the Prosecutor's Office discovered, in part thanks to this "secret letter," that the agreement was not a waiver of salary, but a deferral of payment for three of the four months agreed upon (from March to June 2020).
This payment was not included in the accounts for that fiscal year, leading the Prosecutor's Office to consider it a tax fraud offense.
The document revealed in January 2023 stipulates that Cristiano would be entitled to a severance incentive if the condition for accruing the agreed bonuses was not met after his definitive transfer.
The "secret letter" was seized by the Italian financial police on March 23, 2022, during a search carried out at Juventus' offices and is signed only by the then sporting director, Fabio Paratici.
In addition to the agreement with Cristiano, Juventus also reached a similar agreement with several other players on the squad, such as Argentine Paulo Dybala and Italian Giorgio Chiellini.
