Giuseppe Marotta | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Marotta in 2016 | |
| Chairman of Inter Milan | |
| Assumed office 4 June 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Steven Zhang |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1957-03-25)25 March 1957 (age 68) |
| Children | 2 |
Giuseppe "Beppe"Marotta (born 25 March 1957) is an Italianfootball executive who is currently thechairman andCEO ofItalian football clubInter Milan. In 2014, he was inducted into theItalian Football Hall of Fame.[1]
In 1978, at age 21, Marotta began his career infootball when he was appointed asDirector of Youth Department for his hometown clubVarese.[2] Just one year later, Marotta was promoted togeneral manager (GM) (Italian:Direttore Generale) of Varese and in his first season in charge saw his team promoted back toSerie B. With Marotta as GM, Varese would spend five consecutive seasons in Serie B. However, Marotta's final two seasons at Varese saw the club twice relegated, falling down toSerie C2 after the1985–86 season.
After leaving Varese, Marotta was appointed GM ofSerie C1 clubMonza.[2] During his tenure at Monza, the club were promoted to Serie B and spent two seasons there before went back down to Serie C1. After four seasons at Monza, Marotta moved on to serve as general director for Serie C1 clubComo for three seasons, and then atRavenna for two seasons, also in Serie C1.[2]
In 1995, Marotta was hired byMaurizio Zamparini to serve as GM forVenezia, then playing in Serie B. While there, Venezia achieved a historic promotion back toSerie A in 1998, marking the club's first return to the top flight in more than 30 years.[2] After five seasons at the club, Marotta left Venezia at the end of the1999–2000 season, after Venezia was again relegated to Serie B. From Venezia, Marotta became GM for Serie A clubAtalanta, where he served for two seasons.[2] During his time at Atalanta, the club finished seventh and ninth in the Serie A table.
Following the2001–02 season, Marotta changed clubs again, this time moving toSampdoria.[2] At the time of Marotta's hiring, the club was coming off its lowest table finish since the founding of the club in 1908, atenth place finish in the club's third-straight season in Serie B. However, the club had also recently been purchased by localGenoeseoil industrialistRiccardo Garrone, which, in turn, added an influx of wealth to the struggling club.[3] In his first season as GM, Marotta hiredhead coachWalter 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, such asMassimo Paganin,Sergio Volpi,Fabio Bazzani, andStefano Bettarini, alongside several promising young players, such asAngelo Palombo,Maurizio Domizzi andAndrea Gasbarroni.[4] This overhaul proved successful as Novellino guided Sampdoria to a second-place finish in the2002–03 season, earning the club promotion back to Serie A, as well as a quarter-final finish in theCoppa Italia. In2003–04, with the additions ofCristiano Doni andFrancesco Antonioli seeing Sampdoria finished in eighth place, just missing out onUEFA Cup qualification.[4]
In 2004,[citation needed] Marotta was appointed to serve aschief executive officer (CEO) (Italian:Amministratore delegato) of Sampdoria, in addition to his role of GM. Shortly after, Marotta hired ex-playerFabio Paratici to serve as chief observer/head of scouting for Sampdoria.[5] Paratici worked very closely under the guidance of Marotta, often being described as his "right-hand man".[6]
The2004–05 season saw Sampdoria finish in sixth place, missing theUEFA Champions League qualification by just one 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 withWalter Mazzarri. The 2007 transfer season also saw Marotta bring in the controversial Italian forwardAntonio Cassano on a year-long loan fromReal Madrid with the option to purchase the player.[7] The2007–08 season saw the club finish in sixth place to again qualify for the UEFA Cup. Cassano joined the team permanently after the season ended, with the addition of highly regardedGiampaolo Pazzini fromFiorentina for a fee of€9 million in January 2009.[8][9] However, Sampdoria struggled in the2008–09 season, finishing in 13th place in Serie A, leading Marotta decided not to renew the expiring contract of head coach Walter Mazzarri.[10]
After dismissing Mazzarri, Marotta hired head coachLuigi Delneri, himself coming off two successful seasons at Atalanta, for the2009–10 season.[10] Marotta also brought in several key players during the season's two transfer windows, includingDaniele Mannini,Fernando Tissone,Nicola Pozzi andMarco Storari. Thanks to 28 Serie A goals from the striker partnership of Cassano and Pazzini, as well as Delniri's management, Sampdoria finished the2009–10 season in fourth place, qualifying for the2010–11 Champions League. In May 2010, it was heavily rumoredJuventus was interested in hiring Marotta, and Sampdoria's owner/president Riccardo Garrone openly stated he would gladly let Marotta leave for a more prestigious club.[11]
In May 2010, Marotta was officially brought to Juventus by newly elected club chairmanAndrea Agnelli as GM for the Sports Area (Italian:Direttore Generale Area Sport) with a three-year contract, replacingJean-Claude Blanc (who retained the role of chairman and CEO until October 2010).[12] Juventus had just finished the season in seventh place, their worst since returning to Serie A after theCalciopoli scandal. In his move from Sampdoria to Juventus, Marotta also brought along head of scoutingFabio Paratici andhead coach Luigi Delneri.[12] On 27 October 2010, Marotta was appointed a member of Juventus' Board of Directors and named the club's CEO, replacing Jean-Claude Blanc.[13] Aldo Mazzia, however was appointedchief financial officer (CFO) and CEO of the club in April and in May 2011 respectively.
Similar to his first transfer window upon taking over at Sampdoria, Marotta spent the first year in charge of transfer operations at Juventus making wholesale changes to the squad, acquiring 14 new players, includingMiloš Krasić,Fabio Quagliarella,Alessandro Matri andAlberto Aquilani;[14]) while offloading 11 players, including club legendDavid Trezeguet and Brazilian playmakerDiego, moves which were unpopular with fans.[15][16] Juventus finished the2010–11 season in seventh place, missing out again on Champions League football and also having failed to advance past the group stages of the2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Following the disappointing season, Marotta and the club announced manager Luigi Delneri would not be returning for another season.[17]
On 31 May 2011, Marotta announced the appointment of former Juventus player and captainAntonio Conte as head coach.[18] Conte's appointment was met with some skepticism due to his inexperience in top-flight football. Marotta stated in an interview withCorriere dello Sport that the club's objectives for the new season were to win theScudetto or at least qualify for the Champions League.[19] During the2011–12 summer transfer window, Marotta set about to improve last years finish by bringing in eight new players to the squad, includingAndrea Pirlo andMichele Pazienza onfree transfers, along withStephan Lichtsteiner,Arturo Vidal,Mirko Vučinić,Emanuele Giaccherini,Marcelo Estigarribia andEljero Elia.[14] In May 2012, Juventus won their first Scudetto in six years.
Since Juventus' surprise run to the2015 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 midfieldersPaul Pogba (free), Arturo Vidal (€10.5 million), Andrea Pirlo (free) andClaudio Marchisio (youth product/free), as well as several back-up midfielders on loan, all costing a cumulative total less than €15 million and contributing over one-third of the goals scored in all competitionsthat season.[20][21]
On 31 October 2018, Marotta officially terminated his contract as Juventus CEO.[22]
On 13 December 2018, Marotta officially joined Inter Milan as sporting CEO.[23] Inter have won several trophies since, including the Scudetto in2021 and2024, twoCoppa Italia finals2022 and 2023, and threeSupercoppa Italiana titles in2021,2022 and2023. They also made it to the finals of theUEFA Europa League in 2020 and theUEFA Champions League in 2023 and 2025, although losing toSevilla,Manchester City andParis Saint-Germain respectively. Before he joined, Inter went through a ten-year trophy drought and under his leadership, Inter has signed the likes ofAntonio Conte andSimone Inzaghi to coach the club.Henrikh Mkhitaryan,Romelu Lukaku,Achraf Hakimi,Nicolò Barella,Christian Eriksen,Andre Onana,Hakan Çalhanoğlu,Matteo Darmian,Edin Džeko,Marcus Thuram andAlexis Sánchez are some of his notable signings at the club, with many of these players contributing to Inter's recent success.
On 4 June 2024, following the demise of previous ownersSuning Holdings Group and the acquisition of the club byOaktree Capital Management, Marotta became President and Sporting CEO of the club following a shareholders' meeting.[24]
