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
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...
in 2015. He is a member of the industrialist
Agnelli family. He is also a board member of
Stellantis and
Exor
Exor N.V. is a Dutch holding company incorporated in Netherlands and controlled by the Agnelli family through privately held company ''Giovanni Agnelli B.V.'' In 2021 it recorded revenues of more than $136 billion, with a Net Asset Value (NAV) of ...
.
Early life and ancestry
Agnelli is the son of late Juventus F.C. chairman and
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
of the
Italian Republic
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
Umberto Agnelli, CEO of
FIAT
Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...
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
Gianni is an Italian name (occasionally a surname), a short form of the Italian Giovanni and a cognate of John meaning God is gracious. Gianni is the most common diminutive of Giovanni in Italian.
People with this given name
* Gianni Agnelli ( ...
, 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
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...
(not a college of the university), England, and then at
Bocconi University
Bocconi University ( it, Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi, ) is a private university in Milan, Italy. Bocconi provides education in the fields of economics, finance, law, management, political science, public administration and comput ...
in Milan.
Career
After university, Agnelli started his career in the business world in England and France at companies including
Iveco
IVECO, an acronym for Industrial Vehicles Corporation, is an Italian multinational transport vehicle manufacturing company. It designs and builds light, medium, and heavy commercial vehicles. The name IVECO first appeared in 1975 after a merger ...
and
Auchan Hypermarché. He also spent several years in Switzerland working in marketing and development for
Ferrari Idea S.A. and
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...
-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
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 ...
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
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...
, including four
Coppa Italia
The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since.
History
The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...
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
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...
on behalf of the association, to represent its 220 member clubs alongside re-elected chairman
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Karl-Heinz "Kalle" Rummenigge (; born 25 September 1955) is a German football executive and former professional player. He was the longtime Chairman of Executive Board of FC Bayern München AG, a daughter company of German Bundesliga team Bayer ...
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
it, Piemontese
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, 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
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. Th ...
) and Giacomo Dai Agnelli (born 16 December 2011 in
Turin
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. Th ...
). 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
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...
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