Fabio Paratici (born 13 July 1972 in

Borgonovo Val Tidone Borgonovo Val Tidone ( egl, label= Piacentino, Burgnöv, or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about west of Piacenza. Borgonovo Val Tidone ...

) is an Italian former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He is the Managing Director of Football for English club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He previously worked for about eleven years as Chief Football Officer of Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

Football player

Paratici began his career in the

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

youth sector. In 1989, he made his professional debut with

, playing in

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

, the 3rd tier of

Italian Football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Bra ...

at the time. During his career, Paratici frequently moved throughout the lower divisions of

, playing for various clubs in

and

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

. He retired in 2004 at the age of 31, having played for 12 different clubs in 15 years.

Management

Upon retiring, Paratici was hired as the Chief Observer/Head of Scouting for

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

in 2004. During his tenure at Sampdoria, Paratici worked closely with the club's

Director General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive (government), executive officer, often the chief executive offi ...

and subsequently its

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Giuseppe Marotta Giuseppe "Beppe" Marotta (born 25 March 1957) is an Italian football executive who is currently the CEO for sport of Italian football club Internazionale. In 2014, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Early career In 1978, at ...

, with the press calling him Marotta's "right-hand man." Paratici has described their work as "complementary." In August 2008, Paratici was allegedly approached by

Urbano Cairo Urbano Cairo (born 21 May 1957) is an Italian businessman and chairman of Torino F.C. Cairo is a native of Milan. His principal business interest is in Cairo Communication, a business which he founded. At as mid-2016, Cairo via U.T. Communicati ...

, owner and chairman of

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, and offered the position of Sporting Director General. Sampdoria, and in particular Marotta, were "furious" at these rumors and accused

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

of going behind their backs trying to lure Paratici, who was still under contract with Sampdoria until 2009. In May 2010, Paratici moved from

, along with

Giuseppe Marotta and

Manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Luigi Delneri Luigi Delneri (born 23 August 1950), often incorrectly written as Del Neri, is an Italian football manager and a former player. After a playing career as a midfielder including for several Serie A clubs, he began managing in the lower leagues, a ...

. At Juventus, Paratici was appointed Head of Technical Affairs and Sporting Director by president

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 Tur ...

. Sampdoria owner Riccardo Garrone was furious with Giuseppe Marotta for taking Paratici with him to

, as Garrone had expected Paratici to inherit the role of Director General at Sampdoria, and subsequently threatened to block any transfers to Juventus as retaliation. On 26 May 2021, after eleven years with the

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

club, Paratici left Juventus On 12 June 2021,

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club Tottenham Hotspur announced that Paratici would be taking over as their Managing Director of football. In his first season as Managing Director of Football, Tottenham signed two players directly from his former club Juventus

Dejan Kulusevski Dejan Kulusevski ( mk, Дејан Кулушевски, Dejan Kulushevski; born 25 April 2000) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a winger or midfielder for club Tottenham Hotspur, on loan from club Juventus, and the Sweden na ...

and

Rodrigo Bentancur Rodrigo Bentancur Colman (born 25 June 1997) is an Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Tottenham Hotspur and the Uruguay national team. He started his career in the youth system of Argentine side Boca Juniors ...

, as well as former Juve product Cristian Romero, who all made significant contributions to Tottenham's successful top four challenge. On 20 January 2023, Paratici was suspended for 30 months from holding office in Italian football as punishment for capital gain violations as part of the ''Plusvalenza'' scandal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paratici, Fabio 1972 births Living people Italian footballers Association football defenders U.S. Fiorenzuola 1922 S.S. players Novara F.C. players U.S. Sassuolo Calcio players Palermo F.C. players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Calcio Lecco 1912 players F.C. Pavia players S.S.C. Giugliano players Serie C players Lega Pro Seconda Divisione players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. directors and chairmen Juventus F.C. non-playing staff