Giuseppe Marotta

Giuseppe Marotta
Born (1957-03-25) 25 March 1957
Varese, Italy
Nationality Italian
Occupation Director General and Sports Department CEO of Juventus F.C.

Giuseppe "Beppe" Marotta (born 25 March 1957) is an Italian football executive currently serving as Director General and Sports Department CEO of Italian football club Juventus. In 2014, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.[1]

Early career

In 1978, at the age of just 21, Marotta began his career in football when he was appointed as Director of Youth Department for his hometown club Varese.[2] Just one year later, Marotta was promoted to Director General of Varese and in his first season in charge saw his team promoted back to Serie B. With Marotta as Director General, Varese would spend five consecutive seasons in Serie B. However, Marotta's final two seasons at Varese saw the club twice relegated, falling down to Serie C2 after the 1985-86 season.

After leaving Varese, Marotta was appointed Director General of Serie C1 club Monza.[2] During his tenure at Monza, the club were promoted to Serie B and spent 2 seasons at that level, before relegation back down to Serie C1. After 4 season at Monza, Marotta moved on to serve as Director General for Como, in Serie C1, for 3 seasons and then at Ravenna for 2 seasons, also in Serie C1.[2]

In 1995, Giuseppe Marotta was hired by Maurizio Zamparini to serve as Director General for Venezia, then in Serie B. While there, Venezia achieved a historic promotion back to Serie A in 1998, marking the club's first return to the top flight in more than 30 years.[2] After 5 seasons at the club, Marotta left Venezia at the end of the 1999–2000 season, after Venezia was again relegated back down to Serie B. From Venezia, Marotta took over as Director General for Serie A club Atalanta, where he served for two seasons.[2] During his time at Atalanta, the club finished 7th and 9th in the Serie A table.

Sampdoria

Following the 2001/02 season, Marotta changed clubs again, this time moving to Sampdoria.[2] At the time of Marotta's hiring, the club was coming off its lowest table finish since the founding of U.C. Sampdoria in 1946, a 10th place finish in the club's 3rd straight season in Serie B. However, the club had also recently been purchased by local Genoese oil industrialist Riccardo Garrone, which, in turn, added an influx of wealth to the struggling club.[3] In Marotta's first season as Director General at Sampdoria, he hired manager Walter Novellino, the same coach who in 1998 had guided Venezia back to Serie A under Marotta. Together, and with new money at their disposal, Marotta and Novellino revamped the Sampdoria squad in the 2002 transfer window, adding both experienced Serie A veterans, like Massimo Paganin, Sergio Volpi, Fabio Bazzani, and Stefano Bettarini, along with several promising young players, such as Angelo Palombo, Maurizio Domizzi and Andrea Gasbarroni.[4] This overhaul proved successful as Novellino guided Sampdoria to a 2nd-place finish in the 2002-03 season, earning the club promotion back to Serie A, as well as a quarterfinal finish in the Coppa Italia. In 2003-04, Marotta's 2nd season at Sampdoria, he added to two big-name acquisitions in Cristiano Doni and Francesco Antonioli and Sampdoria finished in 8th place, just missing out on the UEFA Cup.[4]

In 2004, Marotta was appointed to serve as Managing Director of Sampdoria, in addition to his role of Director General. It was shortly after that Marotta hired the ex-player Fabio Paratici to serve as Chief Observer/Head of Scouting for Sampdoria.[5] In a partnership that continues today, Paratici worked very closely under the guidance of Marotta, often being described as his "right-hand man".[6]

The 2004-05 season saw Sampdoria finished in 6th, missing the Champions League place by just 1 point. Nevertheless, Sampdoria qualified for the UEFA Cup marking the first time one of Marotta's teams had qualified for European competition. The 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, saw the club finish 12th and 9th respectively. Following the disappointing 2006-07 season, Marotta replaced manager Walter Novellino with Walter Mazzarri. The 2007 transfer season also saw Marotta bring in the controversial Italian forward Antonio Cassano on a year-long loan from Real Madrid with the option to purchase the player.[7] The 2007-08 season saw the club finish in 6th place to qualify again for the UEFA Cup. After signing Cassano in full, Marotta added another highly regarded striker to Sampdoria with the purchase of Giampaolo Pazzini from Fiorentina for a fee of €8 million in January 2009.[8] However, Sampdoria struggled in the 2008-09 season finishing in 13th place in Serie A leading Marotta to not renew the expiring contract of manager Walter Mazzarri.[9]

After dismissing Mazzarri, Giuseppe Marotta hired manager Luigi Delneri, himself coming off two successful seasons at Atalanta, for the 2009-2010 season.[9] Marotta also brought in several key players during the season's two transfer windows, including Daniele Mannini, Fernando Tissone, Nicola Pozzi and Marco Storari. Behind 28 Serie A goals from the strike partnership of Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini, and under Delniri's management, Sampdoria finished the 2009-2010 season in 4th place, qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. In May 2010, it was heavily rumored that Juventus were interested in hiring Marotta, and Sampdoria's owner/president Riccardo Garrone openly stated that he would gladly let Marotta leave for the more prestigious club.[10]

Juventus

In May 2010, Giuseppe Marotta was officially brought to Juventus F.C. by newly elected club president Andrea Agnelli, taking over for Alessio Secco as the club's Director General. Marotta signed a 3-year contract with the club, tying him there until June 2013.[11] Juventus had just finished the season in 7th, their worst since returning to Serie A after the Calciopoli scandal. In his move from Sampdoria to Juventus, Marotta also brought along Head of Scouting Fabio Paratici, and manager Luigi Delneri.[11] On October 27, 2010, Marotta was appointed to the Juventus F.C. Board of Directors and also as CEO of Juventus, taking over the role from Jean-Claude Blanc.[12]

Similar to his first transfer market upon taking over at Sampdoria, Giuseppe Marotta spent the first year in charge of transfer operations at Juventus making wholesale changes to the squad, bringing in 14 new players, including Miloš Krasić, Fabio Quagliarella, Alessandro Matri, and Alberto Aquilani.[13] Meanwhile, Marotta offloaded 11 players in his first year, including selling club legend David Trezeguet and Brazilian playmaker Diego, moves which were unpopular with fans.[14][15] Juventus finished the 2010-11 season in 7th place, missing out again on the Champions League, and also having failed to advance past the group stages of the 2010-11 Europa League. Following the disappointing season, Marotta and the club announced that manager Luigi Delneri would not be returning for another season. [16]

On May 31 2011, Marotta announced the appointment of former Juventus player and captain Antonio Conte as manager of Juventus. [17] Conte's appointment was met with some skepticism due to his inexperience in top-flight football. Marotta stated in an interview with Corriere dello Sport that the club's objectives for the new season were to win the Scudetto or at least qualify for the Champions League.[18] During the 2011/12 summer transfer window, Marotta set about to improve last years finish by bringing in 8 new players to the squad, including Andrea Pirlo and Michele Pazienza on free transfers, and new signings Stephan Lichtsteiner, Arturo Vidal, Mirko Vučinić, Emanuele Giaccherini, Marcelo Estigarribia and Eljero Elia. [13] In May 2012, Juventus won their first Scudetto in 6 years. Since Juventus' surprise run to the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final, Marotta and the club administration have been praised for assembling one of Europe's top midfields at a minimal cost, with first choice midfielders Paul Pogba (free), Vidal (€10.5M), Pirlo (free) and Claudio Marchisio (youth product/free) as well as several back-up midfielders on loan, all costing a combined less than €15 million and contributing over a third of the goals scored in all competitions that season.[19][20]

References

  1. ↑ "Hall of fame, 10 new entry: con Vialli e Mancini anche Facchetti e Ronaldo" [Hall of fame, 10 new entries: with Vialli and Mancini also Facchetti and Ronaldo] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Giuseppe Marotta's profile". Juventus. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  3. ↑ "Gli arabi e Garrone comprano la Sampdoria" (in Italian). La Repubblica. 11 January 2002. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. 1 2 tifosamp.com. "Storia Blucerchiata" (in Italian).
  5. ↑ "Fabio Paratici". Juventus. 1 July 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  6. ↑ Adam Digby. "Beppe Marotta:First Impressions Count".
  7. ↑ "Sampdoria complete Cassano swoop". UEFA. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  8. ↑ "Pazzini dalla Fiorentina alla Samp" (in Italian). Tuttosport. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  9. 1 2 "Sampdoria appoint Del Neri as coach". ESPN. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  10. ↑ agiamba (5 May 2010). "My, the Times (Management) Are a Changin'".
  11. 1 2 "Juventus arriva anche Delneri" (in Italian). calciomercato.it. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  12. ↑ Exor. "Integration of Juventus FC BoD proposed".
  13. 1 2 Dwicarta (9 September 2011). "2011/12 Season Preview: (2) Another Revolution? Or Engine Overhaul?".
  14. ↑ agiamba (28 August 2010). "Adieu, David "Le Roi" Trezeguet".
  15. ↑ agiamba (27 August 2010). "Auf Wiedersehen, Diego".
  16. ↑ "Club Announcement". Juventus F.C. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  17. ↑ "Welcome Back!". Juventus F.C. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
  18. ↑ Adam Digby (6 April 2011). "Beppe Marotta Talks Juventus Transfers, Contracts And Ambition".
  19. ↑ "Things which cost more than Juventus' midfield". Eurosport. 9 June 2015.
  20. ↑ "Is the Juventus midfield the best in the world?". Irish Examiner. 5 June 2015.
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