Former Serie A powerhouse Zuyuntas has been hit hard by financial fraud, with 10 points deducted from last season's league results, regretting that it has been relegated to outside the top four, and will not participate in this year's UEFA Europa League tournament. However, Zuji's bad luck doesn't stop there, as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) recently announced a severe penalty for Zuji's violation of financial fairness, banning it from participating in the next UEFA European tournament and imposing a fine of 10 million euros (about HK$86 million). If it still fails to meet the financial requirements in the next three years, the fine will rise to 20 million euros, by which time Zuyuntas will not even be in the UEFA and will have to fight hard in domestic competitions.
Faced with the UEFA ruling, Zuyuntas issued a statement expressing disappointment with the verdict, but insisted that the club did not make a mistake and decided not to appeal against it. It is reported that the main reason why Zuji made this decision stems from the fact that it does not have much interest in participating in the UEFA, and prefers to go all out to compete for the Serie A title in the new season and strive to return to the UEFA.
With Zuyuntas being disqualified from European competitions, their place will be filled by Serie A's eighth-placed Ferentina. It's worth noting that Fiorentina competed in the last UEFA Europa League final against Westham, but they are expected to make a comeback in this tournament and write another brilliant story.
