Juventus were demoted to Serie B by Italian sports authorities but since then the Turin giants have been appealing to the country's courts to overturn the ruling.

FIFA was up in arms at what it sees as a lax attitude by the FIGC, and what it regarded as moves on the part of Juventus which are contrary to FIFA regulations.

"We have given the FIGC until midday today (Wednesday, 1000 GMT) to tell us how they are going to convince, or prevent Juventus from appealing their case in the Italian courts," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren told AFP.

FIFA, under their rules, have the power to hand over the whole affair to its Emergency Committe which could then decide to rule on an "eventual suspension of the Italian federation", according to Herren.

That scenario would mean that clubs and the country's various national selections would be banned from participating in international competition.

The FIGC has reacted quickly, however, saying it agreed with FIFA's stance. It said clubs who have been sanctioned by sporting authorities cannot then turn to the civil courts.

In a statement to Italian news agency ANSA, the FIGC said: "The federation will not hesitate in sanctioning clubs who have infringed article 27 of its rules, which forbids clubs taking cases to the civil courts and which states that whoever does so can be sanctioned."

Article 61-2 of FIFA's rules also states that appealing to civil courts is forbidden and that the only avenue remaining is the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Juventus were relegated to the second division, initially with a 30-point penalty, which was reduced to 17 on appeal to the FIGC.

The club has also been shorn of its last two league titles from 2005 and 2006.

On Monday the club decided to appeal to the civil courts in the shape of TAR, the Regional Administrative Court of Lazio, which has the authority to overturn rulings made by sports federation bodies.

The FIGC added in the statement that Juventus had not yet formally appealed to the TAR to hear its case.