Juventus kicked out of Europa conference

(BBC) - Juventus have been kicked out of this season's Europa Conference League by Uefa and fined for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

European football's governing body has also fined Chelsea for breaching FFP rules as a result of "submitting incomplete financial information".

Uefa says the matter relates to transactions which took place between 2012 and 2019.

Juventus have been fined £17.14m, while Chelsea have been fined £8.57m.

The Italian club will only have to pay half of their fine if their financial records for the next three years comply with regulations, while Chelsea have already agreed to pay the settlement figure.

The Blues have spent around £600m on 19 new players since new owner Todd Boehly took charge of the club in May 2022, but their fine relates to a seven-year period while Roman Abramovich had control of the club.

Uefa said: "Following the club's sale in May 2022, the new ownership identified, and proactively reported to Uefa, instances of potentially incomplete financial reporting under the club's previous ownership."

In a response, Chelsea said they "fully co-operated and assisted Uefa" in their investigations and "entered into a settlement agreement" with the governing body.

"In accordance with the club's ownership group's core principles of full compliance and transparency with its regulators, we are grateful that this case has been concluded by proactive disclosure of information to Uefa and a settlement that fully resolves the reported matters," said the Premier League club.

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) must now notify Uefa of which club will replace Juve in the third-tier European competition. It is likely to be Fiorentina, who were beaten by West Ham in last year's final, after they finished eighth in Serie A.

The case against Juventus follows a 718,000 euro but has cut a dispirited figure for much of this season because of Ferrari's failure to live up to their own expectations.

It will be all the sweeter for Leclerc, who struggled in exactly similar damp conditions in the races in Spain, Canada and Austria before realising he had a problem and needed to address it.

"Not a bad qualifying for us especially in those conditions," Leclerc said. "It's always difficult to put everything together. I put a lot of work into those conditions as I wasn't comfortable a few races ago."

Leclerc was the first driver to set a lap on the final runs, meaning he missed the best of the circuit, but he acknowledged that Verstappen was out of reach.

"We went a bit early [for the final run]," he said. "Having said that, pole was definitely not on for us but we could have been closer. Let's see how it goes."

Verstappen came close to being eliminated in the second knockout session, and argued with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase over the radio afterwards about the run plan they had chosen.

Leclerc was faster than the double champion on the first runs in the final session by about 0.1secs but Verstappen said he found the confidence to push harder on his final set of tyres.

"To be on pole again, I know I have to drop back with the penalty but it was the best I could do today."

Outside the top battle for pole, Piastri impressed in the McLaren, the Australian out-pacing teammate Norris throughout after the Briton ran wide at the second Stavelot corner in the first part of qualifying.

(£620,000) fine as part of a settlement agreement with Italian football authorities over a case concerning payment of player salaries.

Juventus had also been docked 10 Serie A points last season following a hearing into the club's past transfer dealings.

They were initially handed a 15-point penalty in January but Italy's highest sporting court overturned that decision in April and ordered the case to be re-examined.

They would have finished fourth and qualified for next season's Champions League had they not been sanctioned.

In response to the charge, Juventus said they accept Uefa's decision and will not be lodging an appeal.

Club president Gianluca Ferrero said: "We regret the decision of the Uefa. We do not share the interpretation that has been given of our defence, and we remain firmly convinced of the legitimacy of our actions and the validity of our arguments.