When SSC Napoli won Italy’s national football championship, the Scudetto, in 2023 for the first time in 33 years, the streets of Napoli erupted into a wild party.
Winning the Scudetto was a fairy tale ending to a remarkable journey for the club.
Back in 2004, it had been languishing in the lower leagues for years and had just gone bankrupt.
Then along came a veteran Italian film producer called Aurelio De Laurentiis, who bought the club and set about reviving its fortunes, applying everything he’d learned in the movie business to the football industry.
De Laurentiis is a fascinating character, so I was delighted when my clients Acolad group and Silverstream TV called to ask if I’d interpret for him at a Financial Times summit, The Business of Football.
He was being interviewed live on stage, in Italian, by FT journalist James Fontanella-Khan.
An audience of football agents, club bosses and fund managers listened on headphones as I interpreted De Laurentiis’ thoughts on why the game should be free-to-view, what clubs can learn about content production from F1, and the economics of private equity investment.
It was an intense and exhilarating hour of interpretation – the sort of challenge I relish – and an absolute career highlight.
Thanks again for thinking of me.
I’ll hang my selfie with Aurelio De Laurentiis in my client hall-of-fame, between Sir Geoff Hurst and Pope Francis!