Juventus previously announced that they planned to appeal the punishment in the Italian civil courts, an action that would have brought further punishment to the clubs and the FIGC by FIFA, as FIFA has historically taken a dim view to government involvement in football administration. FIFA and UEFA announced that they had the option to suspend the FIGC, barring all Italian clubs from international play, if Juventus went to court; some analysts, such as ESPN, described them as "FIFA threats". After the FIGC threatened to freeze all Italian competition, which could have resulted Italy's national team not taking part at the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying,Juventus dropped its appeal before the TAR on 31 August, the day before it was due to be heard;Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) president Gianni Petrucci thanked John Elkann and Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter thanked Juventus, particularly Montezemolo, for dropping the appeal. Juventus officials cited the "willingness shown by sportive institutions [the FIGC and CONI] to review its case during [CONI's] arbitration."In retrospect, this decision in particular is criticized because it could have cleared Juventus' name and avoided relegation. (Goal.com)