Magda Pozzo Tutosport: “disgusting Super League”

Tuttosport Today suggests an exclusive interview with Juventus’s # 1 Marketing Personality, “The Female Director” Magda Bouzo:

Magda Bouzo, good morning. Can you explain to us when your father, Giampaolo, asked you to help you in Udinese by putting your knowledge of business and marketing into service? “Yes, you have to return the tape a little. Before entering Udinese in the mid-1980s, the family had a company that dealt with carpentry tools. I graduated in business administration in the United States in Washington, where my father sent me to study. Then I started my career in sales and marketing in the family group,” First in Spain, in Barcelona, ​​then in Italy. My mission was always to expand foreign markets. Then, about 12 years ago, the group was sold to Bosch, so the opportunity for cooperation opened up in Udinese, at first with some of my doubts, it was a world that I did not know. Time to develop a new stadium project. In this way I was able to give space for the creative spirit that allowed me to introduce modern concepts into my soccer. Football has a lot of power over the crowd, so a brand that wants to enhance its brand by marrying this sport realizes However, in the sector that I came from, marketing campaigns had to be designed to attract the attention of the audience. But we tried to go further. Because with the introduction of the private stadium, we were able to use it as a flywheel to launch marketing activities on the Land “.

What does it mean for Udinese to be the only club in Italy that owns the factory alongside Juventus? “For us, this is almost a dichotomy in and of itself. The stadium is understood in the collective imagination but also in most Italian administration as a structure in which a football match is held on alternating Sundays. But it is a reductionist vision. In fact, it should be proposed for different activities: families, academies, meeting centers, concert sites. In Italy, we are also very late because there are old structures not to mention the bureaucratic problems of building new ones or obtaining licenses. There are so many organizations overlapping that you get lost waiting for a thousand permits without being sure of the times. It is sad to know that there are flowers for foreign investors who have been frustrated by the obstacles they face. Among them, the United States and China, the country prefers real estate development because it generates wealth and jobs. Italy is working to limit the expansion of football and we can enact laws in stadiums, but if those who want to invest are not supported, then there is no point in it. We ourselves are still waiting 5 years to obtain some commercial licenses that have not been granted to us to exploit the potential of our 20 thousand square meters in the Dacia Arena. “We got here thanks to the mayor at the time, who strongly believed in the potential of the stadium.”

While waiting for licenses for recreational and commercial use of space and not just sports, the stadium began hosting vaccines, and became a hub. How was your family proud? “We did that 4 or 5 months ago in England with Watford, our other team. In Italy we immediately suggested but there were no vaccines. Seeing that everything was now achieved in Curva Nord was an impressive thrill. There is now a small hospital and this confirms the fact that football belongs to the community. Even our stadium, which is a private good, is actually public in the sense that it is designed and constructed according to the use that people will use next. The stadiums should live 365 days a year for people as true incubators of ideas. ”

How much uncertainty is the outcome that looms on the horizon at the start of the season that excites you, after all taste is precisely the uncertainty … “This does not surprise me at all. I am very strong in my strategy so the goal of field application is not It works well.We came back about 5 years ago a bit complicated from a sports point of view and they were great from a business point of view. For those investing in Udinese, I always say that we shouldn’t get married hoping to get results. This shouldn’t be the main reason. There has to be a project. We are a solid reality, the ownership has been in the saddle for more than 25 years, we have a proprietary stadium and a high-level exploration capacity. Then everything is obviously easier if the team goes well and wins. But the attitude of the players is also important, “It doesn’t matter if you lose, but how you lose. There must always be morals.”

She is from Friuli but spends most of her time outside. What do you miss in Italy when it is far from Udine? “I have not lived permanently in Italy for 35 years: first in the United States, then 15 years in Spain, a period in Milan and then in England. I feel very special in the Friulian character: persistence in work and respect for everyone. Perhaps I feel more open to the experience “I have lived abroad. I feel a little bit an ambassador of Friulian values, and this makes me very happy when they are in a foreign country, combining my city with Udinese.”

The echo fades, but are we back from the failed Premier League bid? what do you think? Football is democratic, it belongs to everyone, and I find it disgusting to think about creating an elite league where there are no relegations or promotions. And that bothers me a lot because it was a system to cover other problems: these indebted clubs, within 5 or 6 Years will face the same problem again, we will get into dangerous bubbles. We find different rules, with a salary cap set, wise management should also apply to big clubs. Congratulations to the British government, you absorb the leadership of a country when you know how to unravel something clearly wrong in “Two minutes. England gave us a good lesson: football belongs to the fans, and I’m glad it ended like this.”