Andrea Agnelli

Andrea Agnelli (; born 6 December 1975) is an Italian businessman. Agnelli served as chairman of Italian football club Juventus F.C. since May 2010 to until his resignation on November 2022 following a Financial Accounts Probe ordered by the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, which indicated signs of purposeful wrong accounting. Agnelli also served as Executive Member and Chairman of the European Club Association, and was appointed to the UEFA Executive Committee in 2015. He is a member of the industrialist Agnelli family. He is also a board member of Stellantis and Exor.

Early life and ancestry

Agnelli is the son of late Juventus F.C. chairman and senator of the Italian Republic Umberto Agnelli, CEO of FIAT from 1970 to 1976, and Donna Allegra Caracciolo di Castagneto (b. 1945), first cousin of Marella Agnelli, born Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto and daughter of Filippo Caracciolo, 8th Prince di Castagneto, 3rd Duke di Melito, and a hereditary Patrician of Naples (1903–1965) and his wife, Donna Anna Visconti di Modrone (b. 1903). Marella, widow of Agnelli's uncle Gianni, and Allegra and, therefore, Andrea, are both descendants of an old Neapolitan noble family that held the titles of Prince of Castagneto and Duke of Melito, among others.

Andrea was the last male member of the family to carry the Agnelli surname until the birth of his son Giacomo. He studied at St Clare's in Oxford (not a college of the university), England, and then at Bocconi University in Milan.

Career

After university, Agnelli started his career in the business world in England and France at companies including Iveco and Auchan Hypermarché. He also spent several years in Switzerland working in marketing and development for Ferrari Idea S.A. and Lausanne-based Philip Morris International.

Juventus F.C.

In May 2010, he was appointed Chairman of the board of directors of Juventus by his first cousin John Elkann, becoming the fourth member of the Agnelli family to run the football club after his father, his uncle and his grandfather. Elkann had come under criticism from Juventus fans for the club's poor results during the 2009–10 season and many ultras saw Agnelli as the "rightful" heir due to his family's long-time association with the club. Despite entering the job during a period when the club was still dealing with the aftermath of the infamous '' Calciopoli'' scandal, he is credited with overseeing the club's transition into the new stadium and balancing their finances in wake of the ongoing recession ravaging Italy. One of his first acts as new chairman was to appoint Sampdoria duo Giuseppe Marotta as Director of Sport and Luigi Delneri as new coach.

On 22 May 2011, Agnelli appointed former captain and fan favourite Antonio Conte as the new manager of Juventus, replacing Delneri. The same season Juventus won the first ''scudetto'' undefeated under Agnelli. Since then, Juventus won nine ''scudetti'' in a row as of 2019–20, a record in Serie A, including four Coppa Italia titles in a row since 2014–15.

On 8 September 2015, Agnelli was re-elected as a member of the European Club Association executive board, a position he has held since 2012. He was also appointed by the executive board to join the UEFA Executive Committee on behalf of the association, to represent its 220 member clubs alongside re-elected chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for 2015–17.

In April 2021, Agnelli resigned from his positions as ECA chairman and UEFA Executive Committee, becoming a vice-chairman of The Super League. On 28 November 2022, he resigned as the chairman of the Juventus.

Legal issues

In 2014, some of Juventus' senior management, including Agnelli, were investigated by the Public prosecutor's office of Turin on the management of tickets at the Juventus Stadium, about the alleged infiltration of the 'Ndrangheta in the commercial management of the company's tickets; the public ministers of Turin did not formalise criminal charges against Juventus or its members, closing the investigation three years later with a filing request as there were no links between the Juventus management and the groups and/or individual people involved in organised crime. On 18 March 2017, following the opening of a lawsuit by a prosecutor from the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office, Agnelli was referred by the FIGC's Attorney General along with three other club executives. The following 15 September, the FIGC reformulated its allegations, excluding a presumed Mafia association from the members of the incriminated club after the prosecutor Giuseppe Pecoraro's intervention to the Antimafia Commission in April; the prosecutor asked for sanctions for the meetings of Agnelli with ultra groups and the sale of the tickets by the rest of the offenders beyond the limit allowed per person (thus favouring ticket scalping). On 25 September, Agnelli was banned for one year and fined €20,000, while Juventus were fined €300,000 for selling tickets to ultras, however alleged connections to organised crime were not present in the ruling. On 18 December, Agnelli's ban was lifted, however he was required to pay a €100,000 fine, while the fine against Juventus doubled to €600,000.

Personal life

On 27 August 2005, he married Emma Winter in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Villar Perosa (Piedmont, Italy) at the church of San Pietro in Vincoli. The wedding reception was held at Villa Agnelli, Donna Marella Agnelli's estate in Villar Perosa. The couple have two children: Baya Agnelli (born on 24 May 2005 in Turin) and Giacomo Dai Agnelli (born 16 December 2011 in Turin). After the end of this marriage, Andrea has been engaged to the Turkish Deniz Akalin since 2015; in 2017 the couple had a daughter.

On 10 January 2022, Agnelli tested positive to COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Italy.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnelli, Andrea
Living people
1975 births
Businesspeople from Turin
People educated at St. Clare's, Oxford
Bocconi University alumni
Italian football chairmen and investors
Juventus F.C. chairmen and investors
Agnelli family
Bourbon del Monte family
Fiat people
Juventus F.C. directors