Napoli on Tuesday won their appeal over a 3-0 defeat and one-point deduction for failing to turn up to play Juventus because of coronavirus cases.

Napoli took their case to the Sports Guarantee Board of the Italian Olympic Committee, the highest level of sporting justice in Italy, after having previous appeals against the ruling rejected by the Italian Football Federation and Serie A.

CONI said in a statement they “accepted the appeal presented by Napoli and annulled without postponement the decision of the Sports Court of Appeal at the FIGC … including the penalty of losing the match to Juventus-Napoli and the deduction of one point.”

The October 4 fixture had been abandoned rather than called off when Napoli did not travel to Turin.

Napoli were punished with an automatic 3-0 defeat and also docked one point for not attending the planned match.

They had argued they were ordered not to travel by the local health authority due to Piotr Zielinski and Eljif Elmas testing positive for Covid-19.

The match was scheduled just days after Napoli had played Genoa, who subsequently recorded over a dozen COVID cases within their squad.

Italian media report that the match at Juve’s Allianz Stadium will be newly scheduled for January 13.

(AFP)