Where are they now? The 9 Juventus stars who left after their 2006 Serie A relegation

Juventus’ world came crashing down in 2006 when the Calciopoli scandal saw them stripped of their 2004-05 Serie A title, downgraded to 20th in the 2005-06 Serie A season and relegated to Serie B as a result of an earth-shattering investigation.

Juve were punished as Italian football was stained forever, and their relegation to Serie B prompted a mass exodus of some of their biggest stars.

We’ve taken a look at what happened next for those players who left the club in that whirlwind summer of 2006.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Mino Raiola threatened legal action to ensure Ibrahimovic was allowed to leave Juve following the scandal, resulting in a €24.8million switch to Inter, who had been awarded the 2005-06 Scudetto after Juve were stripped of it.

The scandal wouldn’t leave a mark on Ibrahimovic’s career in the slightest. After three consecutive Serie A titles, he moved to Barcelona, but quickly returned to Italy with the red side of Milan and became a hero there too, before being tempted to Paris in a big-money move in 2012.

After cementing his legacy as one of the game’s greatest and most unique players throughout the 2010s, playing for the likes of Manchester United and LA Galaxy, Ibrahimovic retired aged 41 after returning to Milan and helping them to win Serie A once again.

He now works at the club as a senior advisor.

Emerson

Emerson had only been in Turin for two years before leaving after signing from Roma in 2004, managing to get a move to Real Madrid in the wake of Juve’s crisis.

However, his move to Spain wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and after one season he was back in Italy with Milan.

Injuries hampered his two seasons with the Rossoneri and he retired upon the expiry of his contract in 2009, but returned to the game in 2015 with Miami Dade of the now-defunct American Premier Soccer League.

He hung them up once again in 2020, with Miami Dade still active in the United Premier Soccer League.

Gianluca Zambrotta

A key player in Italy’s 2006 World Cup win, Zambrotta made a move to Barcelona, but it was largely unsuccessful and by 2008 he was back in Italy with Milan.

The move to Milan prompted a revival in the latter years of his career, winning a Serie A and a Supercoppa before leaving in 2012 and embarking on a player-manager stint in Switzerland with Chiasso.

Zambrotta retired in 2014 and has been focused on management ever since, but hasn’t been in a job since leaving his role as assistant manager of Jiangsu Suning in 2018.

Patrick Vieira

Just one season after an emotional goodbye to Arsenal to sign for Juve, Vieira was out of the door again following the scandal, following Ibrahimovic to Inter.

Injuries stopped the French midfielder from ever becoming a vital cog in the machine, however, and by 2009 he was out – to newly oil-rich Manchester City.

Vieira finished his career in Manchester, retiring in 2011 before embarking on a management career which has seen success at New York City FC, followed up by mixed results at Nice, Crystal Palace and most recently Strasbourg.

Adrian Mutu

A failed move to Chelsea saw Mutu head back to Italy with Juventus in January 2005, although Livorno were somehow also involved in the deal. Go figure.

Either way, Mutu’s time in Turin was shortlived, moving to Fiorentina in the summer of 2006 following the scandal.

He spent the next five years in Florence, failing another drug test, before later embarking on a nomadic end to his career which saw him play in France, India and back in Romania before retiring in 2016.

Since retiring, Mutu has worked to carve out a career in management, most recently taking charge of CFR Cluj from January to April 2024.

Fabio Cannavaro

Imperious at the World Cup, Juve’s downfall wasn’t enough to derail Cannavaro’s year as he signed for Real Madrid and later won the 2006 Ballon d’Or, becoming only the third defender ever to win the award.

The Italian continued his brilliant form in Spain, winning two La Liga titles before returning to Juve in 2009.

His performances weren’t up to scratch, however, and he left after one disappointing season where the fans never really welcomed him back after he turned his back on them three years earlier.

Cannavaro’s playing career ended in Dubai in 2011 and he has since embarked on a career in management, mostly in Asia.

However, he was most recently manager at Udinese, being appointed in April 2024 and helping the club to avoid relegation from Serie A before departing. He might just have managed to find a way back into the European game.

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Lilian Thuram

Two years in Barcelona followed Thuram’s departure from Juve after five years with the Old Lady, but by this point he was past his best and he quickly fell down the pecking order.

A heart defect resulted in his 2008 retirement and in the time since, he’s kept a rather low profile, simply enjoying his life, but also lending his support to causes such as LGBTQ+ support and UNICEF.

Thuram is also watching his sons Marcus and Kephren ball out in Serie A. Marcus is thriving for Inter, while Kephren has just followed in his footsteps and signed for Juve. Full circle.

Simone Bentivoglio

A makeweight as Juve desperately tried to gather themselves for life in Serie B, youth player Bentivoglio – who had spent the 2005-06 season on loan at Mantova – signed for Chievo Verona.

His career after that was an endless cycle of loan spells around Italy, before he eventually left the club in 2015 to sign for Modena – the first club he was loaned to back in 2006-07.

Bentivoglio continued to play in the lower tiers of the Italian game before retiring in 2021 after a season at amateur level with Vigasio. Now 39, he’s just beginning to embark on a managerial career, most recently taking charge of Serie C side Arzignano.

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Alessandro La Vecchia

A midfielder by trade, La Vecchia’s career was largely Serie C and Serie D after leaving Juventus, before retiring in the late 2010s.

Little is known about the Italian, but LinkedIn tells us he’s worked as a football coach alongside working in insurance since 2022.