Tottenham Hotspur

Fabio Paratici resigns as Tottenham Hotspur sporting director

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 21 April 2023

Fabio Paratici resigns as Tottenham sporting director

Tottenham Hotspur sporting director Fabio Paratici resigns from his post with immediate effect in the wake of his failed appeal against his worldwide 30-month ban.

Tottenham Hotspur have announced that sporting director Fabio Paratici has resigned from his role amid his worldwide ban from all footballing activities.

The 50-year-old's decision comes in the wake of his unsuccessful appeal against his 30-month suspension, which was rejected by the Italian National Olympic Committee earlier this week.

Paratici was implicated in a scandal over alleged financial mismanagement during his time at Juventus, and he was initially given a 30-month ban from activities within the Italian Football Federation in January.

However, Paratici's ban was extended to a worldwide suspension by FIFA last month, and he subsequently stepped back from his role at Tottenham while lodging an appeal.

On Thursday, it was announced that the former Juventus chief's appeal had been thrown out by the CONI, and Spurs have now confirmed that Paratici is no longer at the club.

"Yesterday - 20 April 2023 - Fabio Paratici was unsuccessful with an appeal against his Italian Football Federation (FIGC) ban on certain football related activities," a statement read.

"FIFA ruled to extend the ban worldwide and, whilst there continues to be a dispute as to the scope and extent of the ban, the current worldwide ban prevents Fabio from fulfilling his duties as our Managing Director of Football.

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is pictured before the match on March 18, 2023 © Reuters

"Fabio has consequently taken the decision to resign from his position at the Club with immediate effect to focus on his legal position in respect of the FIGC and FIFA rulings."

Paratici assumed his position at Tottenham in the summer of 2021 and worked closely with former manager Antonio Conte to raid the Serie A market, most notably acquiring the signatures of Cristian Romero, Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur.

With Tottenham searching for a new manager after Conte's bitter exit last month, Paratici allegedly held a recent meeting with Reims head coach Will Still, in spite of his worldwide suspension.

The former Sassuolo player departs after less than two years in the job, and Spurs chairman Daniel Levy sent his best wishes to a man who "lives and breathes football".

"This has been a stressful time for Fabio and his family. We wanted to ensure that we allowed for due process to be followed. Fabio is a man who lives and breathes football - we wish him well," Levy added.

"As outlined in our year end results, we started several months ago to restructure our football operations and last week announced the appointment of Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer to head up all the departments. We shall continue to strengthen our football functions over the coming months."

While Paratici's appeal was unsuccessful, Juventus saw their 15-point Serie A deduction provisionally overturned, propelling them into third place in the table on the same night that they advanced to the Europa League semi-finals, beating Sporting Lisbon 2-1 on aggregate.