Conte loses appeal, to miss Serie A

Juventus coach Antonio Conte is set to miss the whole of the Serie A season with the defending champions after losing his appeal against a 10-month ban over a match-fixing scandal on Wednesday.

Conte, who led an undefeated Juventus to the Italian title in his first season in charge last term, was banned on Aug 10 for failing to report two incidents of match-fixing in the 2010-11 season when he was coach of then Serie B side Siena.

The Italian federation (FIGC) said in a statement on Wednesday that Conte, whose hearing was heard on Monday, had lost his appeal.

The FIGC’s prosecutor also lost an appeal against the decision to acquit Juventus defender Leonardo Bonucci and winger Simone Pepe over an alleged attempt to fix a match between Bari and Udinese in 2010.

The FIGC’s prosecutor had wanted a three-and-a-half year ban for Italy’s Bonucci, who was playing for Bari at the time, and one-year ban for Pepe, who was with Udinese.

The Serie A season starts this weekend. Juve have said they will stick by Conte with a second appeal set to be launched and heard in September. His assistant Massimo Carrera has taken charge of Juve’s pre-season friendlies and is poised to stay as temporary boss.

The Siena matches that came under scrutiny were against Novara and Albinoleffe in May 2011. FIGC said Conte had now been acquitted over the Novara game but that the 10-month ban should stay for the Albinoleffe affair.