Italian judge: Conte lucky ban was not longer

Piero Sandulli has said that the Juventus coach can count himself lucky that he was not banned for three years for sporting fraud

Federal Court member Piero Sandulli has warned Antonio Conte that he was lucky not to receive a three-year ban for his part in the Scommessepolli scandal.

The Bianconeri coach was acquitted of one of two charges relating to his failure to report match-fixing activities while in charge of Siena, prompting the Turin club to label his ban a "witch-hunt."

"The Novara-Siena accusation was removed, but the other seemed very serious to us and perhaps should've been dealt with differently," he told Radio Capital.

"This is why the ban was confirmed. On Novara-Siena it seemed illogical that such a senior and experienced coach would say in the locker room 'we're drawing this one.'"

"We can say that he was lucky, especially as he was cleared for one of the two accusations. With sporting fraud he'd have been banned for three years."