Only 9 out of 20 clubs are still in the hands of the Italians. Between investment funds and tycoons, so we opened the path to the capital of globalization
It was enough to read in the future. The oldest football team in Italy, Genoa, was founded in 1893 by a group of British who only accepted the entry of Italian members only after a few years. Now, in Serie A, foreign properties exceed the local ones: 11 against 9. The last operation was aimed in January with the purchase of Verona by the US Fund. The turnover of the promotions and relegations greeted the Americans of Venice and welcomed Alexander Knaster, a magnate of Russian origins but of training and US passport, protagonist of the return of Pisa to the top league. As a result, Serie A will begin for the first time with foreigners “in government” and Italians “in opposition”. And the patrol of the former could increase, if the transfer of the Udinese of the Pozzo family to the Guggenheim Partners Fund will go through.
who I am
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The sample is vast. The longest is Joey Saputo, whose family made luck in Canada in the production of dairy products: at Bologna he overcome the decade of stay. Milan is the reign of investment funds. Redbird, specialized in sports and entertainment, took over Milan in 2022 from another fund (Elliott); Oaktree, who usually operates in “Stressed-distressed” situations, took over in Inter at the defaulting Zhang a year ago. If the funds are looking for a cold return of the investment, in Florence and Parma they have settled billionaires that treat teams as “trophy asset”. Rocco Commisso (Fiorentina, 2019) and Kyle Krause (Parma, 2020) have not taken care of at the expense so far, investing over 900 million in two. A figure that Dan Friedkin spent alone, in this five -year period at the helm of Rome that was to represent a new gem in an increasingly diversified portfolio, from luxury cars to film production: only the return to the Champions League and the new stadium could repay the efforts of the Texan. Much more calculated the risk of one who means of finance: Stephen Pagliuca is the leader of the consortium who, in 2022, acquired the majority of a mince-users club like Atalanta, leaving governance (and the minority share) to the perceptions. The imprint in the Genoa of the Romanian entrepreneur Dan Sucu, who took over from the ineffective 777 at the end of 2024, are still to be deciphered. Instead, the ambitions of the Indonesian brothers Robert and Michael Hartono are certainty: in command of Como since 2019, they are the richest owners of Serie A with a heritage of 50 billion dollars (Fonte Forbes).
reasons
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The sunset of patronage has favored the entry of foreign capital, accelerated by Covid and the liquidity crisis. Paola Barometer, partner of the Corporate & Finance Department of Hogan Lovells explains: “In this scenario of systemic fragility, the interest of foreign investors has found a favorable context. In a European panorama where the main clubs have reached evaluations close to the maximum historical multiples, Italy still offers an access window at interesting entrance conditions. The Italian clubs – often distinguished by a high indebtedness, significant opportunities. of management optimization, an inefficient cost structure and revenues lower than the average of the other main alloys – are particularly attractive for operators accustomed to intercepting value opportunities in less efficient contexts “. Now it is necessary to dissolve the nodes of the system, infrastructure in the first place. Otherwise, foreigners will also raise white flag.
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