Sergio Cragnotti (; born 9 January 1940, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

) is an Italian entrepreneur and sports executive. One of the most high-profile and wealthy business figures in Italy in recent times, Cragnotti is best known for having been president of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. However, his most influential position was as head of food conglomerate Cirio. This company included all Cirio food brands, as well as those of the acquired Del Monte Foods International from the late 1990s. In 1992, Cragnotti bought football team Lazio from previous owner Calleri. In December 1993, the

Ontario Securities Commission The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC; French language, French: ''Commission des valeurs mobilières de l’Ontario'') is a regulation, regulatory agency which administers and enforces security (finance), securities legislation in the Canadian p ...

fined him for

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

. The Cragnotti family owned 80% of the Cirio group, which in turn owned a 51% stake in the Roman club. In 2002, the Cirio company declared default on its bonds. The default cost about 1.125 million euros to a plethora of small investors, most of them Italian. Cragnotti presided over perhaps the most successful period in Lazio's recent history, ploughing in record amounts of money which attracted notable athletes such as

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and

Marcelo Salas José Marcelo Salas Melinao (; born 24 December 1974), nicknamed ''Bullfighter, Matador'' (due to his Goal celebration, goalscoring celebrations), ''El Fenómeno'' and ''Shileno'', is a Chilean former association football, footballer who play ...

. His successes included winning both

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

, along with the final European

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

, both under the guidance of close friend

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...

. In November 2006, he published his autobiography, titled ''Un calcio al cuore'', co-written with Fabrizio Pennacchia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cragnotti, Sergio 1940 births Living people Italian businesspeople Confidence tricksters