The Italian Football Confederation (FIGC) has completed an investigation into alleged language abuse by Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez in a language test before he left for Juventus last year.
The Italian federation said in a statement that it would close the case until new evidence was available “due to insufficient evidence to violate the federation’s sporting order”.
Prior to his transfer to Juventus in September 2020, Italian lawyers said they had evidence of fraud in the language test taken by Barcelona striker Suarez to obtain Italian citizenship.
Suarez, who married a woman of Italian descent, passed the exam at the University for Foreigners in Perugia.
This is a quick way to get citizenship so that Juventus can sign the Uruguayan striker without violating the specific quota for players outside the EU.
But suspicions arose in the media about Suarez’s special treatment.
Perugia’s public prosecutor Rafael Canton said the investigation had revealed that the questions had been agreed with Suarez before the exam, and that the score had already been determined even without Italian language proficiency.
The university denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that its actions were “transparent and correct” and hoped that this would be proven by the end of the investigation.
Suarez received the required score for citizenship within 15 minutes, and after a supervisor test he was told to take only the oral portion of the exam.
Other naturalization applicants who took the B1 test on the same day in Rome must complete the written paper within two and a half hours.
Suarez eventually moved to Atletico Madrid.
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