Paratici, who was initially handed a 30-month ban from Italian football in January relating to alleged financial mismanagement at Juventus, had that extended to worldwide activities by FIFA on Wednesday; Paratici has 10 days to appeal the ban, of which Spurs were given no advance notice
Thursday 30 March 2023 10:03, UK
Tottenham are urgently seeking clarification from FIFA over the decision to hand managing director of football Fabio Paratici a worldwide ban from football.
Paratici, who was initially handed a 30-month ban from Italian football in January relating to alleged financial mismanagement at Juventus, had that extended to worldwide activities by FIFA on Wednesday.
Spurs have said they were given "no advance notice" from world football's governing body.
"We are urgently seeking further clarification from FIFA as to the details of the extension and its variance from the FIGC [the Italian FA] sanction," the club statement read.
"We should like to make clear that when Fabio conducted the interview on club channels yesterday neither he nor the club had any indication of this decision being made by FIFA, based on the fact the FIGC sanction was taken on 20 January 2023 and remains subject to an appeal on 19 April 2023."
Paratici has 10 days to appeal his worldwide ban to FIFA's appeals committee.
Sky Sports News has contacted Tottenham and the Football Association for further guidance on what this means for Paratici and his role at Spurs.
Sky Sports News understands Paratici cannot conduct any transfer market activity directly - he cannot talk to agents nor negotiate deals, which is a fundamental part of his job as managing director of football - but he can work internally at Spurs, including attending meetings.
However, Sky Sports News are awaiting official clarification of this - such as whether he can be involved in Tottenham's search for a new permanent manager following the departure of Antonio Conte.
Paratici, Juventus and the other officials involved have appealed the sanctions - with the result of the appeal expected later in April. The ban is in effect even while this appeal to CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) is going on.
Paratici and 11 other former Juventus officials may also face a separate criminal case - with a preliminary hearing, which was due to take place on Tuesday, postponed until May 10.
Juventus, and the 12 officials - including Paratici - deny any wrongdoing.
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
"Tottenham's statement appears to suggest Paratici is staying for the time being at least, which means they have a director of football who is banned from football.
"The statement appears to show a degree of frustration with FIFA but arguing about process and 'seeking urgent clarification' is not really going to get Spurs anywhere.
"Paratici can request the grounds for the decision and once that is provided he can appeal to the FIFA appeals committee. He can carry on working during that period and his ban could be suspended until the appeal.
"Tottenham say they had no notice before this morning (Wednesday) that Paratici's ban was going to be extended but when he was banned from Italian football by the Italian federation in January, they made it clear they were going to be asking UEFA and FIFA to extend the ban. This was widely reported at the time so a worldwide ban has always been on the cards.
"It is also worth pointing out that FIFA did not announce anything this morning. They were asked questions by journalists and they responded with a carefully-worded statement which did not name any names."
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