Juventus president Andrea Agnelli addressed the annual shareholders meeting and revealed the club had made a profit of €42.6m while the objective for the season remains a 7th consecutive scudetto.
“We reached the Champions League final, and the aim is to continue at the same levels,” Agnelli said.
“We’re now waiting for a new challenge, in terms of the outcome of the rights issues for our league. The current situations with the Italian broadcasters doesn’t fill us with confidence.
“Thinking about our league, we’ve seen an increase of more than 44 per cent, going from €12.8 billion to €18.5 billion in a few years, with a €5.7 billion increase.
“From 2010 to 2016, Juventus substantially increased our turnover.
“No-one has ever won six Scudetti in a row, so a thank you has to go to all of the men and women who work for Juventus.
“Then a thought to the six players who have won six Scudetti: Buffon, Lichtsteiner, Chiellini, Barzagli, Marchisio and Bonucci.
“Five of them continue to face the challenge. Next a thank you goes to Beppe Marotta and to Pavel Nedved, as well as Fabio Paratici.
“A personal thank you also to Massimiliano Allegri. The most beautiful success is always the next one.
“We’re aiming for a seventh Scudetto and to go further in Europe. There’s a new challenge with Juventus women too, with Rita Guarino guiding the squad.
“Turnover, excluding transfers, amounted to €411.5m, with a profit of €42.6m.
“We need to develop a medium term plan, which offers projections up to 2024. Our first area of competition is nationally, and our first objective is to win in Italy.
“That means the seventh Scudetto is the next big objective.
“Recently we’ve seen a few steps forward in our league, but we need to intervene with the stadiums, crumbling facilities which need to be modernised.
“Also the Federation, with regard to which I have a two point call: reduce the teams from 20 to 18, and go for second teams.
“The Primavera league is a good one, but not enough to produce a player who can play in the first teams.”
DETERMINED AS EVER TO KEEP WINNING
“The question everyone asks is ‘When will Juventus start losing?’ That’s why it’s always more difficult to meet expectations.
“The challenges we face are always harder than before, but the players, the manager and everyone at the club are ready for them.
“This group of directors sat beside me have the same hunger and desire to keep winning on the pitch and to maintain economic and financial stability off it.
“The feeling is very good and we’ve set a realistic aim, which is that of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals each year and winning the league in Italy.
“Meanwhile, we will continue to grow our brand overseas. Recent sponsorships with Cygames and Allianz are very important from this point of view.”
ALLEGRI AND BUFFON
“Entering a group that had already won three consecutive league titles is no simple feat. The fact that we’ve since won three more Scudetti with the chance of extending our winning streak is testament to the work done by the manager, Nedved, Marotta and Paratici.
“Buffon? Gigi know that, whenever he wants, he can come into my office and he will be the one to decide his future.”
TRANSFER WINDOW REVIEW
“The length of transfer windows are the subject of much discussion. 20-25% of transfers take place between 20 and 30 August.
“It’s clear that managers would like to have a settled squad by the end of July and the English Premier League has already brought forward their transfer deadline day to before the first fixture of the season.
“However, the aim is to ensure that all of the top five leagues – Italy, Spain, England, France and Germany – are aligned on this matter. A united decision is required and the European Club Association (ECA) will support UEFA leaders in this decision.”
TV RIGHTS
“On the one hand, there has been an important increase – from 40 to 50% – in the percentage relating to the distribution of the proceeds in equal parts, but on the other hand we expect 20% to be split by taking account of user bases, rewarding companies who aim to play internationally.
“We can only be confident of the intentions we have shown to date. As far as national law is concerned, it will be important to understand how the Italian broadcasters will be positioned and what the scope for OTT operators will be. To continue the increase witnessed in recent years will be a challenge.”
VAR
“We all wanted Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to be introduced. I have spoken to Gianni Infantino, Aleksander Ceferin and Zvonimir Boban about it and there are two issues: 1) giving Federations the opportunity to introduce it on a voluntary basis, when no experiments of this kind should be carried out in top leagues such as Serie A or the German Bundesliga. 2) The protocol regarding the application of VAR is not so clear.
“In addition, there must be homogenization between the various competitions, because at the moment in the league we play with three referees, the fourth official and VAR; while in Europe we play with five-man refereeing team.
“I very much appreciate the introduction of VAR, but it needs to be fine-tuned. Then again, VAR won’t decide the destination of Scudetto titles, but the hard work and dedication of the players, staying focused and respecting the opponents, will.”
FINANCIAL FAIR PLAY
“Initially, Financial Fair Play had three objectives and all of them have been achieved: reducing the cumulative losses of the system, reducing the companies involved at market level and attracting international investors.
“Now we’re at a point where we’re trying to understand how the Financial Fair Play should be standardized. One step might be shifting the attention from the income statement to the balance sheet of the clubs, but this would entail the creation of an extremely complex control system by UEFA.
“One might even think that initially the main leagues have more restrictive rules. In any case, it is important to set up discussions with UEFA.”
UNITED AGAINST RACISM
“We are all united against racism. The stadium is a place where certain minorities can express improper opinions and there must be a constant commitment from everyone to eliminate this phenomenon from the game.
“Juventus is doing its part and two years ago, the club financed a study on the topic of racism conducted by UNESCO called “Colour what Colour?”.
