Juve-Inter, the Agnelli-Zhang pact on TV rights and Champions

by Luca Bianchin and Davide Stoppini

May 12
– Rome

Seven kilometers divided the Roman hotels of Juventus and Inter, site of the retreats for this Coppa Italia. But even if it had been triple, it would not have been enough to keep Steven Zhang and Andrea Agnelli, friends and allies away before rivals. And so, yesterday morning the Inter president went to visit his Juventus colleague at the hotel. A meeting in favor of the cameras, which immortalized the embrace between the two after a scarce hour of conversation, before the number one of Inter went to have lunch next to the team. Later, in the stands of the stadium, John Elkann, number 1 of Exor was also framed, who, as in 2021, chose to see the Cup final live.

The reasons

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What will they ever say to each other? By playing with your imagination you can get to the most unexpected places. For example, one can even imagine that Steven asked Andrea about Dybala, not even needing a pass to deal with Joya. Or, backwards, why not talk about the possibility of approaching Skriniar? Unlikely. Better to stop at reality, which may be disappointing for market enthusiasts, but so be it. The two had not seen each other physically for some time and most likely found a way to chat about sports politics. The most current are the development of TV rights, the enhancement of the Serie A product (Juve and Inter, if we talk about the creation of a media company, have already moved for some time) and the political positions in the League, a few hours from assembly staged yesterday in Rome. Above all, at the center of the reasoning is the format of the new Champions, approved by Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin. A project that had the approval of Eca, the association of European clubs to which Inter returned after the sinking of the Superlega project and from which Juventus is still out, remaining in its positions together with Real Madrid and Barcelona. .

Casual look

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Side notes, which made social media discuss: the atmosphere was extremely relaxed and Zhang’s sporty look – checked shirt-jacket – is indirect proof of this. The Inter president left the hotel with an A4 sheet in hand, which sparked the most imaginative hypotheses. Certainly, the two presidents did not want to hide. And, underlines those who live their daily lives, they have crossed paths in Milan and Turin many other times, even in recent times. After all, the needs coincide – they are two great clubs … – and the positions in the League, therefore, are often common. Friendship and alliance are deeply rooted. Inter, for example, supported the election of Agnelli to the presidency of the ECA (they were other times …) and Agnelli was among the most favorable to the appointment of Zhang junior in the Club Competition Committee, the committee that deals with European competitions. Now, however, there is no longer even the tension from … transfer of Marotta, which in 2019 cooled the climate a bit at the management level.

Public and private

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The history of the relationship between presidents is also made up of public crossovers, which date back to the Turin match in this year’s championship and to that of a year ago with the Nerazzurri who were already Italian champions. Or, digging into the past, there is the memory of a three-way summit at the Milan headquarters, including the Rossoneri executives, a few months before the launch of the Superlega, or of a public meeting at the FT Business of Football Summit. It was March 2020, and Agnelli revealed: “I respect Steven very much, he was at my house for dinner two weeks ago”. Yesterday, actually, they stopped at the aperitif. The main dish was the Coppa.