Lega Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo spoke at the ‘Leaders’ global summit for sports and football industry and called Italy’s top division ‘the most exciting league’ in the world. The Serie A boss was speaking at the industry event which is hosted in Abu Dhabi this year, and talked about the global vision for Serie A at the launch of a ‘Lega Serie A road show’ which will last for 6 months. Di Siervo spoke at length (as quoted by SportItalia) about the importance of developing Italian football, the global perception of Serie A and the importance of exporting the league around the world:
“From today the Lega Serie A road show starts, which will last six months and will touch five continents in view of the next audiovisual rights sales cycle. This is the announcement we are making directly from the stage of ‘Leaders’, one of the most important international sports events. Just a few metres from here we have opened our new headquarters, after the New York launch last May we are experiencing another historic and fundamental moment for our media company, to grow and launch us into the future.
On the development of Italian football
“When we arrived in Lega Serie A we had 3 sponsors for over 20 years and in just 3 years the partners have become 10: international brands that have doubled our turnover, testifying to the trust and interest in our product. In recent years we have worked with the clubs of the Lega Serie A in a constructive and collective manner to enhance their assets, i.e. the players, with greater growth in content and visibility.
Our football can boast global brands and star power players such as Di Maria, Ibrahimovic, Leao, Osimhen, Dybala, Immobile, Lukaku and Lautaro just to name a few, but there are many others. We have also set up and are pushing the ‘Legends’ project, international ambassadors such as Totti, Del Piero, Vieri, Cannavaro, Kakà and Shevchenko, all of whom have brought Italian football to the world. Our product expressing values such as the unique passion of the fans, technological innovation and Made in Italy is the unique and differentiating value in the international strategy. Around the world they love our country and Serie A.”
On the perception of Italian football abroad
“To be a leader in the world we have to win internationally and never before has Italian football become important in Europe. A kind of ‘all in’ with Napoli breaking all records. And the other six teams all running in European competitions. It is true, ours, as many say, is the most difficult league in the world in terms of tactics, but it is also the most exciting with four different teams that could win the title in four years, unlike the Bundesliga and Ligue 1. This is also a great value for those who buy and distribute our product. Never as in this phase of presentation and sale of the new cycle of international and domestic television rights is it more fundamental to have a united and compact League working together for the valorization of the product.”
On the importance of exporting the Italian football product to the Middle East
“The future also begins from here with 50% of the population under 25, we have over 30 million Serie A fans in MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and players such as Amrabat in Fiorentina, Maleh in Lecce, Fares in Lazio, Bennacer in AC Milan, Zedadka in Napoli, Bronn in Salernitana, Sabiri and Leris in Sampdoria, Harroui in Sassuolo, Bourabia in Spezia and Masina in Udinese. We are working with all local sports institutions, while we distribute our matches through the OTT platform Starzplay and the linear TV Abu Dhabi Media. We amplify our football with the Kooora platform, the leading digital platform in Arabic with over 20 million unique users per month, and we produce high quality content such as the video launched today and produced with XDubai, excellence in entertainment in this territory”.
