Juventus has been among the exceptional teams of the world and one in recent years both in company and sport field.
For a further understanding of the club, the history and governance will be discussed in this chapter.
Brief History of Juventus
Celebrating its 110th birthday, the Running zebra (Le Zebre) in the football court, a.k.a. Old Lady (La Vecchia Signora) and girlfriend of Italy (La Fidanzata d'Italia), Juventus is the most famous football team in Italy.
The Rise
The team was formed by a group of students in the school Liceo D'Azeglio of Turin in 1897. They organized a football club for the purpose of entertainment. In 1905, the club had its first championship by defeating Genoa and AC Milan.
After World War I, they continued to rise, with the goalkeeper Giacone and full backs Novo and Bruno being the first to play in the national team. The President Corrado Corradini, who had taken over the club in 1919 and wrote the club anthem, remained until the sixties.
The Agnelli Family
By the end of World War I, FIAT had become one of Italy’s
biggest companies. By the 1920s, FIAT was producing 90 percent of Italy’s cars and the Agnelli family controlled 70 percent of the company.
In 1923, Edoardo Agnelli took control of Juventus and remained presideny until 1935, overseeing a series of astonishing victories in the 1930s. Edoardo was the son of Giovanni Agnelli, founder of the company. FIAT has been linked to Juventus ever since. Edoardo used to take his son, Gianni, with him to the stadium, and Gianni Agnelli was part of Juve’s history until his death in 2003(Foot, 2007).
Jeno Karoly, the first real trainer, arrived at Juventus with the inside left Ferenc Hirzer, both from Hungary, to supplement the talents of Gaimpiero Combi, Virginio Rosetta, Federico Munerati, Carlo Bigatto and Giuseppe Grabbi.
The Glory
In the period of the 1930s, Juventus almost dominated the world of Italian football. Trainer Carlo Carcano was able to call upon great stars such as Raimendo Orsi, Umberto Caligaris, Luis Monti, Renato Cesarini, Mario Varglien, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari and Felice Borel. Juventus had triumphed for 5 scudetto from 1930 to 1935 in a row.
During the 1930s Juventus had their first experience in world football, participating in the Europe Cup (today's Champions League).
In 1934 the Italian national team won the World Cup. Nine players had participated in the national team: Gianpiero
Combi, Virginio Rosetta, Luigi Bertolini, Felice Borel, Umberto Caligari, Giovanni Ferrari, Luis Monti, Raimundo Orsi and Mario Varglien.
1935 Edoardo Agnelli passed away in an airplane accident.
It shocked all of Italy. However, Juventus still held a dominant place in Italian football right up until World War II.
The Dominance
Juventus returned to victory from 1967 to 1986 and had opened a long cycle of triumphs with its most representative champion, Giampiero Boniperti and featured such greats as Zoff, Scirea, Tardelli, Cabrini, Causio, Rosa, Gentile, Furino, Anastasi and Roberto Bettega. The club won nine scudetto in 15 years (in 1972, '73, '75, '77, '78, '81, '82, '84, '86), and Juventus also conquered the international arena: UEFA Cup (first success in 1977), Cup Winner's Cup (1984), European Cup, Supercup and World Club Championship (1985).
In 1985, Juventus became the only team in the world to have won all official international cups and championships, and became the first club in the history of European football to have won all 3 major UEFA competitions.
The Triad
In 1994 Luciano Moggi became the Administrator and General Director of Juventus. The famous triad was formed
with the Chief executive and FIAT boss Antonio Giraudo and the former player Roberto Bettega. In the same year of 1994, the coach Marcello Lippi, who led the Italian team, won the 4th World Cup in 2006, also joined the club. From 1994 to 2004 Juventus won 5 scudetto, 1 Italian Cup, 4 Italian Supercup, 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 Champions League, 1 European Supercup and 1 UEFA Intertoto Cup. Juventus was incomparable.
At the beginning, the students were only trying to entertain themselves by forming a football club. They had no idea that the Juventus football club would become so crucial even in the modern history of Italy. In a way that is unique, Italy’s biggest company has run Italy’s biggest football club, and this alliance has created love, hate, loyalty and jealousy in equal measure. FIAT’s wealth, and its business ethics, made Juventus into the greatest
producer of victories in Italian football, with a fan-base that spread across the whole country and dwarfed that of the other clubs (Foot, 2007).
FIAT used Juventus to make money, but also to create consensus and popularity with Turin workers, but above all among ordinary Italians across the peninsula. Every victory was identified with the car company that pays the players’
wages.
By the 1930s Juventus could count on a fan-base bigger than that of all the other clubs put together.
Nowadays, Juventus has outnumbered fans all over Italy.
According to the survey of monitor calcio (2007), there are 41 million fans in Europe and 173 million fans around the world. In another survey of CRA in 2008, there are 12.6 million fans in Italy distributed uniformly across the country. The number of fans in Italy is one third of the total football spectators in this country. Juventus seems to possess a charismatic power on the pitch. Also, the FIAT group may be a reason why the club has an enormous amount of fans in Italy. The Agnelli family and its FIAT car industry may be able to explain this question. Between 1951 and 1967, Turin’s population rose from 719,300 to 1,124,714. Many of these ‘terroni’ immigrants - a racist term used by
northerners towards southerners- were already, or soon came to be, Juventus fans. Thousands of peasants took the ‘train of the sun’- especially in the 1950s to 1960s- to cold, foggy Turin to pursue the dream of a job with FIAT. In the 50s to 60s, large amounts from southern Italy came to Turin for works.
They were looking for a position in the biggest capitalism in the country- FIAT. Even when workers went home, they still supported the city’s club- Juventus. When those workers had returned home, they still remained passionate toward the club (Foot, 2007).
Besides, Juventus also builds up and develops the youth sector. There are 17 teams, about 348 players, 67 technical staff and 14 young players in senior championships and it
has invested over 5 million euro per year (Juventus, 2008).
The youth sector of Juventus is divided into six squads:
Primavera, Berretti, Allievi, Giovanissimi, Esordienti and Pulcini.
Governance of Company
From 20th December 2001, the title Juventus is quoted on Mercato Telematico Azionario (MTA): the STAR segment, managed by Borsa Italiana S.P.A. (The Italian Exchange).
As stated above, the Agnelli family presided over the club in 1923. The Agnelli family was one of the most influential groups in the history of modern Italy. Nowadays, the Agnelli family forms the Giovanni Agnelli e C. S.a.p.az. to manage the club through Exor investment company. Juventus, as a company with shares on the Stock Exchange, also has a series of duties towards shareholders, with whom they want to maintain and develop a relationship based on trust. The objectives of the club in this sense include increasing the value of the brand, preserving a top-level sport
organization, and studying and carrying out projects to diversify the Club's activities.
Partly in the light of recent events that involved in the company in the summer of 2006, it has made innovations in its system of governance, adapting it to the best national and international practices, enhancing the role of
independent directors, adopting a cutting-edge Code of Ethics unique in its business sector, establishing new
internal monitoring rules and adopting a system of delegation of responsibilities that puts the Board of Directors at the centre of company management (Juventus, 2007).
Corporate Governance
The corporate governance system of Juventus envisages the division of responsibilities between Board of Directors and committees that have been created in the framework of the Board of Directors to provide consultancy and proposals.
The Board of Directors
The Board of Directors (BoD) is composed of 8 members who remain in office for 3 financial years and may be re-elected.
The BoD is vested with the broadest powers for the ordinary and extra ordinary management of the company. It thus has the power to take all the measures considered necessary and appropriate to achieve the Company's purpose, with no exception, save only such action as is reserved by law for the Shareholder’s Meeting (Juventus, 2007.03.31).
In the framework of the Board of Directors, 3 committees have been set up to provide consultancy and proposals. There are: the Audit Committee, the Remuneration and Appointment Committee and the Sport Committee.
The Audit Committee
The Audit Committee (Comitato per il controllo interno)
consists of 3 members. The Audit Committee has the function of providing consultancy and proposals, as well as control of internal procedures (administrative and operative) and it is composed entirely of independent Directors.
The Remuneration and Appointment Aommittee
The Remuneration and Appointment Committee (Comitato remunerazioni e nomine) is composed of 3 committees. The objectives of this committee are to examine matters in question, and the Board of Directors has decided to create a single committee if the issues are inter-related.
The Sports committee
The Sports Committee (Comitato sportivo) consists of 4 members; the chairman Givanni Cobolli Gigli and the CEO of Juventus are included. The Sport Committee has the function of providing proposals and consultancy to the Board of Directors itself concerning the Company’s strategy in the sports world in general and more, in particular, in
activities linked to the football world.
In addition, there are also several important
institutions for the company: the Board of Statutory Auditors (Collegio Sindacale) and the Shareholder’s
Meetings. The Meetings are important occasions for informing Shareholders about the Company, respecting regulations on confidential information.
Other Activities
Channel
Juventus also has its own television channel: the
”Juventus Channel.” It is the first Juventus-themed TV channel, and broadcasts 24 hours a day. It went on air on the 1st of November 2006 on the Sky Satellite platform.
Although the Juventus Channel cannot show League matches live, they only offer an alternative live audio commentary to the one provided by Sky. Every match is broadcast in full, with live link-ups before and after the game, and exclusive interviews with players, coaches and fans (Juventus, 2008.03.31). It provides a platform for fans to get to know the club.
Promotion of Football
Juventus also established the Juventus Soccer Schools in 2004 as part of Merchandising S.r.l, the company created by Nike along with the technical sponsorship of Juventus.
The result of collaboration between Juventus and Juventus Merchandising, the project aims to allow young lovers of football to make their first steps in the world of sport and of football following the “Juventus method.”
With these premises, a great deal of attention is
concentrated not only on professional aspects, but also on
learning and fun. Juventus Soccer Schools' initiatives are:
Juventus University, courses dedicated to coaches, lasting a few days; Juventus Academy, year-long football schools all across Italy; and Juventus Summer Camps, allowing kids to combine football and fun and, in East Bourne’s case, the study of the English language (Juventus, 2008.03.31).
Juventus Stores and Juventus Corners
In September 2003, the first Juventus Store was launched in Turin where fans can find all official Juventus products.
Over the years several Juventus Corners were also opened:
in Milan (inside Football Corner), Rome (inside Esedra), Catania (inside Teamsport), Sorrento (inside Fiorile Sport), Riccione (inside Discovery), Varese (inside Epi Official Merchandising) and Aosta (inside Fans Store). There are also 200 Juventus Points all over Italy across the Tamoil distribution network. During the football season there are also 6 Juventus Shops inside the Olimpico Stadium, selling merchandise during matches (Juventus, 2008).
Summary
While building up an outstanding football club, Juventus has been a successful club in Europe. Juventus has won most Italians’ heart in Italy. Juventus has supporters all around Italy. Juventus has € 12.6 million supporters in their own country. It is truly an amazing statistics. Regarding contact with the fans, Juventus has its own channel,
published magazine, memberships and stores. Juventus has several different kinds of ways of communicating with supporters.
As a company, Juventus is the 3rd quoted football clubs in Italy. Juventus makes revenue of 251.2 million euro in the 05/06 season, 3rd place in Europe (Deloitte, 2007). As mentioned above, Juventus has won the hearts of the fans.
The support of the fans is the real thing that matters for a professional club. Without it, a club cannot be described as a great club.