London — Tottenham's managing director of football Fabio Paratici resigned earlier today after losing an appeal against a 30-month worldwide ban.
Paratici was handed the suspension by the Italian football federation (FIGC) in January, after his former club Juventus were found guilty of false accounting.
Initially the ban only applied to his homeland, meaning he was free to continue working at Spurs, who he joined in June 2021.
However, Fifa last month extended the scope of the ban to having worldwide effect, following a request from the Italian federation.
On Thursday, Paritici's appeal was dismissed by Italy's highest sports court.
"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," Tottenham said in a statement.
"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 and Fifa rulings."
Paratici had already stepped back from his role pending the appeal, with Scott Munn appointed as Tottenham's new chief football officer earlier this month.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy said: "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."
The Paratici affair, though, has put more pressure on Levy, with fans disgruntled by Tottenham's 15-year trophy drought.
Paratici played a major role in bringing former manager Antonio Conte to the club after the pair worked together at Juventus.
Conte left Spurs in March after a highly-critical rant towards his players following a 3-3 draw at Southampton.
Levy attracted further criticism for then appointing Conte's former assistant Cristian Stellini as interim manager until the end of the season.
A 3-2 home defeat to relegation-threatened Bournemouth last weekend has severely dented Spurs' hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League.
Tottenham are fifth in the Premier League, three points adrift of Newcastle, who they face on Sunday, but have played a game more than the Magpies.
AFP