Tottenham Hotspur: Fabio Paratici resigns as Spurs managing director following FIFA ban from football

The Tottenham Hotspur managing director Fabio Paratici has resigned from his role with immediate effect after the 50-year-old lost his appeal to have a 30-month ban from football overturned.

Paratici was banned after Juventus, where he had previously been sporting director and managing director before joining Spurs, were found guilty of false accounting. Juventus have now had their 15-point penalty reversed after the case was re-examined.

Their former sporting director, however, has had his appeal against his ban rejected. Paratici’s 30-month ban from Italian football was extended “to have worldwide effect” by Fifa. Paratici previously took a leave of absence from his role with the North London side with the Tottenham performance director Gretar Steinsson taking on the main duties.

Steinsson, 4, joined Spurs last summer having previously been head of recruitment and development for three years at Everton. His role had included the majority of the non-recruitment aspects of Spurs life but it is highly likely he will now continue taking on the duties of Paratici.

Not only will Spurs hope to find a permanent replacement for Paratici, but they will do so at the same time as finding a new head coach following the sacking of Antonio Conte last month.

What has Spurs said?

Tottenham released a club statement which 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.

“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 (Italian Football Federation) and Fifa rulings.”

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy also added: ““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.

“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.”

When are Spurs next in action?

Spurs are currently sitting fifth in the Premier League, following a shock 3-2 defeat to Bournemouth at home last Saturday. They will now prepare to take on Newcastle at St James’ Park on Sunday in a bid to reach the Champions League spots by the end of the season. The match will kick-off at 2pm on Sunday 23 April.