An Italian soccer court on Wednesday upheld a 10-month match ban on Juventus coach Antonio Conte for his involvement in a match-fixing scheme.
The 43-year-old was handed the lengthy ban by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for allegedly failing to report two incidents of match-fixing during his time in charge of Siena.
But despite appealing the verdict in person at the Federal Court of Justice on Monday, Conte was denied the chance to return to coaching Juventus for Saturday's opening Serie A game against Parma.
An FIGC statement read: "The Federal Court of Justice can confirm the 10-month disqualification for Antonio Conte."
Conte's implication in the scandal involved match-fixing charges in two Serie B matches that took place in the 2010-11 season.
"It was decided to acquit Conte for his role in the Novara-Siena game, but the 10-month disqualification stands as a disciplinary commission sanction concerning Albinoleffe-Siena," the statement said.
On Wednesday, Juventus president Andrea Agnelli blasted the court's ruling.
"Today's judgment from the Federal Court of Justice confirms the worst suspicions about the Antonio Conte affair, concerning the acts that allegedly occurred when he was working for another club," Agnelli said in a statement on the club's website.
"For many months I have observed this situation with disbelief, with a growing sense of bewilderment, as sporting justice started to resemble a witch hunt."
Conte had appealed the ban, which was imposed by the FIGC last month. His assistant, Angelo Alessio, was banned for eight months.
Conte is expected to lodge a second appeal with the Italian Olympic committee's Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is likely to be heard in September.
At the start of the month, Conte had submitted a plea bargain under which he was willing to accept a three-month suspension and a €200,000 fine ($248,000), but the FIGC said it believed that was not a sufficient punishment for the alleged offense.
The court also modified the verdict for Alessio and reduced his ban from eight months to six.
Montreal Impact striker Marco Di Vaio was also acquitted, but Lecce's relegation from Serie B to the Lega Pro was upheld.
Speaking on Tuesday, Conte had said he was confident that he would be cleared by the court and his ban overturned, saying: "I listened to my lawyers and, from what I've heard, they are very calm and confident that, against Parma, I will return to the bench."
The committee rejected the appeals of prosecutor Stefano Palazzi against Juventus players Leonardo Bonucci and Simone Pepe, Siena's Nicola Belmonte and Torino's Salvatore Masiello, who were all cleared of any wrongdoing in Udinese's match against Bari in May 2010.
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