Thursday, Italy’s highest sports court ruled that the case should be re-examined. This means that the 15-point penalty against Juventus for illegal transfer activity was lifted, but the threat of further punishment remains.

In a statement, the Sports Guarantee Board asked the Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) appeals court to change the punishments given to the club and some important people, like former vice chairman Pavel Nedved, in the original ruling.

But the long bans given to former chairman Andrea Agnelli, former CEO Maurizio Arrivabene, and sporting directors Federico Cherubini and Fabio Paratici were kept.

The Sports Guarantee Board has a month to explain why it made its decision. Only then can the FIGC court reevaluate the case, so it’s likely that this will drag on until the end of the season.

The FIGC court’s decision on Thursday moves Juve from seventh place in Serie A to third place with 59 points while they wait for a new decision.

Juve are 16 points behind league leaders Napoli, who they play at home on Sunday. As a result, AC Milan has been kicked out of the Champions League spots in Serie A.

The news came out on the same night that Juve was trying to beat Sporting Lisbon and move on to the semifinals of the Europa League.

“We have always considered ourselves as having 59 points, those points which the players have on the pitch,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri ahead of Thursday’s kick-off.

Francesco Calvo, the club’s head of football, expressed his “satisfaction” after a decision which “brings certainty, both to us and to our rivals for the top four places”.

In January, Juve were found guilty by the FIGC appeals court of having “systematically altered accounting documents… from at least the quarter ending March 31, 2019 to the quarter ending March 31, 2021”.