The entire board of Italian soccer giants Juventus, including chairman Andrea Agnelli, has resigned "in the best interest of the company", the club has announced.
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The collective resignation comes after Juventus' financial statements received scrutiny from prosecutors and Italian market regulator Consob in recent months for alleged false accounting and market manipulation.
The company had denied any wrongdoing.
Italy's football association subsequently opened an investigation into allegations the club paid salaries to its players in 2020 and 2021 different to those it publicly reported.
In response to the revelations from Turin the Spanish league called for "immediate sports sanctions" to be placed on Juventus to "protect our football".
Juventus said its directors had discussed the issue at a meeting on Monday and concluded it would be best addressed by a new board, given "the relevance of the pending legal and technical/accounting matters".
The organisation, which is controlled by the Agnelli family's holding company Exor, said it had asked CEO Maurizio Arrivabene to maintain his position and had appointed Maurizio Scanavino as general manager.
Juventus said they had had called a shareholder meeting on January 18 to appoint a new board.
Andrea Agnelli, who has chaired Juventus since 2010, will not seek a reappointment, a source with knowledge of the matter said.
Exor, which owns about 64% of Juventus shares and controls about 78% of voting rights, said it would propose accountant Gianluca Ferrero as chairman.
It will also present its full slate of candidates for the new board.
A source close to Exor said Juventus' new board would have to be focused on lawyers and corporate governance experts to help the club with the investigations.
"As part of its campaign to promote financially sustainable football in Europe, LaLiga continues to pursue these complaints against Juventus and demands immediate sporting sanctions to be applied on the club by the relevant authorities," said a statement by the Spanish league.
"Financial sustainability is paramount to protecting the business of football."
Juventus went into the World Cup break sitting third in the Serie A table with nine wins from 15 games.
Australian Associated Press
