Top facts about Andrea Agnelli, Juvents' club owner

Andrea Agnelli is an Italian businessman best known for his chairman role in Juventus. He is also the chairman in many other organizations and big shot businesses like the European Club Association. He was born in 1975. Considering his age, he is indeed very successful. But Success in

Andrea Agnelli’s family

, is a relative concept.

The followings are some lesser-known facts about Andrea Agnelli, Juventus' club owner:

If you want to know some facts about Andrea Agnelli, first you need to know about his big family.

Andrea Agnelli’s Family

One of the 

facts about Andrea Agnelli

 is that his family is one of the most important families in Europe. They are currently running Exor holding, Fiat industries, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, New Holland, and….

Umberto Agnelli – Andrea’s Father 

Andrea Agnelli’s father

, Umberto, was also the 

chairman. With about 40 years of activity in Fiat company, He ended up being the chairman of the whole fiat group for a short time. Umberto's father, Edoardo (who also was a Juventus manager) died in a plane crash when he was a one-year-old. Ten years later his mother died too. All that tragedy and wealth would make a Bruce Wayne out of him.

In 1959, when he was 25 years old, he married Antonella Piaggio. Antonella is not Andrea Agnelli's mother. Piaggio’s family has several companies including Vespa. Despite all of these, Umberto was not the biggest Agnelli at the time.

Not much is known about

Andrea Agnelli’s mother

. When Umberto was 40 years old, he married Allegra Caracciolo. He had two children with Allegra, Andrea and Anna. Andrea Agnelli’s mother is the first cousin of Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto, who was the wife of umberto's brother, Gianni.

Gianni Agnelli – Andrea’s Uncle

One of the interesting 

facts about Andrea Agnelli

 is that his Uncle, Gianni, was probably the biggest Agnelli of all time. Umberto's older brother was a war hero and won several medals of honor for Italy during World War II

and after that. 

Gianni was an actual Playboy and had several famous lovers. For instance, Pamela Harriman after divorcing Randolph Churchill, son of famous British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, became Gianni's lover for five years. Later, she was in the US Office, while Bill Clinton was the President.

Another lover that may surprise you was Jackie Kennedy, wife of John F Kennedy. There were rumors about JFK having a crush on Marilyn Monroe, the top Hollywood actress. A few days after the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy decided to have a trip to Italy for summer. 

Andrea Agnelli’s uncle

was there to cheer her up. They spent some time together in a town called Ravello. Gossips were spreading around about Jackie and Gianni getting too friendly. Paparazzi were constantly alarming the United States president about his wife's love life. John F Kennedy couldn't stand it anymore, so he called his wife back home. 

It is good to know that Gianni had a huge influence on fashion too. It may explain his string of lovers. Gianni finally married Princess Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto. As you might guess she was a big shot too. Other than being in a noble family, she was occasionally on the cover of fashion magazines like Vogue. She and her two brothers have inherited the La Repubblica newspaper. Marella and Andrea Agnelli’s uncle had a son together named Edoardo. Countess Margherita Agnelli de Pahlen was their only daughter.

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In 1966, he became the president of Fiat car manufacturing. His grandfather, Giovanni Agnelli, founded it in 1899. From late 60's to year 2000, Fiat was growing bigger and Gianni had many allies and business partners around the world.

He opened factories in many places including Russia and South America. In 1968, Alfa Romeo merged with traditional rival Lancia into Fiat’s Alfa Lancia Industriale S.p.A. He even had an agreement with General Motors, the biggest American vehicle manufacturing. Fiat group became the biggest Italian motor vehicle industries.

Gianni's power grows to politician level. He had an Oil partnership with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan supreme leader at the time. Andrea Agnelli’s uncle became the “senatore a vita” and member of the senate's defense commission.

Beginning the new millennium, Gianni was one of most important men in the world. Gianni had near 4 percent of Italy’s GDP, Juventus had become the most successful Italian club, Ferrari was the champion of formula one. 

Everything seemed perfect for Agnelli family. Except that Gianni was growing old. Sickness was upon him and his only son was a Muslim who defended the poor. That was bad for the family business. In 2003, Gianni had been diagnosed with prostate cancer so his brother and Andrea Agnelli’s father, Umberto took over the empire. But Umberto died only one year after his big brother's death. It was Gianni's grandson and Andrea’s cousin's turn to be the head of the Agnelli family.  

Edoardo – Andrea’s First Cousin

Edoardo was the heir to the throne of Agnelli Empire after his father Gianni. But this young man had other concerns than running the Fiat company or Juventus. 

Andrea Agnelli’s cousin

had studied at Atlantic College, and also modern literature and oriental philosophy at Princeton University. After graduation from Princeton, he went to India seeking religion and mysticism. 

Edoardo later converted to Sunni Islam, and after a visit to Iran, under the influence of the Iranian newborn revolution converted to Shia Islam. He even changed his name to Mahdi.

He began to criticize his family's type of business.Gianni was disappointed in Edoardo to be heir to his throne. He was obviously unhappy with his son and in response, he made sure that Edoardo wouldn’t inherit his family business. Edoardo suspiciously found dead under a bridge. Police reported that as a suicide, although many questions remained unanswered. 

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You can see Mahdi in this picture. He is second man on the right looking at the camera. This picture is taken during prayers in Tehran.

John Elkann – Andrea’s Cousin

John Elkann is the son of Italian author Alain Elkann and Margherita Agnelli, daughter of Gianni Agnelli. Juventus experienced a tough period after the death of Gianni and Umberto. In this period that Andrea Agnelli’s cousin was the club manager, a huge scandal was discovered. 

After investigations and telephone tapping for two years, Luciano Moggi, chief managing director of Juventus, became the main suspect. The case was named Calciopoli by the media. What he did was to call Italian football officials to make sure that referees won't cause any problem for the club. 

There were other Italian clubs involving in Calciopoli.

, Fiorentina and

were the most famous among them. But none of them had charges like Juventus. Consequences were really heavy. 2004-05 and 2005-06 Scudetti were taken away from Juventus. The worst part was that 2006 scudetto was handed to

. As you may know Juventus and Inter are main rivals in Italy and the match between them is called Derby d'Italia. 

Although they were promoted after winning

, it was far from previous glory. Inter was dominating in Italy after Calciopoli and won four Scudetti in a row. In 2010 Inter Milan was the champion of UCL. Juventus fans could not bear this situation. They blamed the club’s management. John Elkann placed young Andrea Agnelli to be in charge in Juventus.

Andre Agnelli's Career

Now that we know the Agnelli family, let’s see some facts about Andrea Agnelli himself. Andrea studied at Oxford (St. Clare’s International College) and Milan (Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi). While in university, he had positions in Iveco-Ford in London, Piaggio in Milan, Auchan Hypermarché in Lille, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney in London, and, finally, Juventus Football Club S.p.A. in Turin.

In 1999, his professional career began at Ferrari. He was responsible for promoting and developing the brand in non-automotive areas. After that, he moved to Paris and took responsibility for marketing at Uni Invest SA, a Banque San Paolo company which managed investment products.

From 2001 to 2004, he worked at Philip Morris International in Lausanne, where he initially had responsibility for marketing and sponsorships. Philip Morris is the worldwide cigarette and tobacco company best known for its bestselling brand Marlboro. Marlboro is a longtime sponsor for Scuderia Ferrari the iconic Italian formula one team.

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Then in 2005, he returned to Turin to work in strategic development for IFIL Investments S.p.A.. A year after that he joined the board of directors.

Agnelli is a general partner of Giovanni Agnelli B.V. company, a member of the board of directors at Fiat S.p.A., and a member of the advisory board of BlueGem Capital Partners LLP. Since 2017, he has been president of “Fondazione del Piemonte per l’Oncologia”. 

In 2004, after the death of his uncle and father, he was appointed to the board of directors of Fiat S.p.A. He later became a member of the board of directors of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V (FCA). Chrysler is the third biggest automobile manufacturer in the United States after Ford and General Motors. Some of the top car brands like Dodge and Jeep are owned by Chrysler. Since 2012 Jeep became the main sponsor of Juventus jersey.

The integration between Fiat and Chrysler dates back to 2009 after Chrysler filed a bankruptcy reorganization. In the same year, Chrysler emerged from the bankruptcy proceedings with Fiat, and the US and Canadian governments as principal owners. 

Fiat’s initial share in the company was 20%. By 2012, it grew to 58.5%. Then in the same year that Andrea Agnelli got the title, Fiat completed the acquisition of the remaining 41.5%. The reorganization merged Fiat S.p.A. and Chrysler Group LLC into FCA.

Juventus 

In 2010 he became the chairman of hometown club Juventus by his cousin John Elkann. One of the interesting facts about Andrea Agnelli is that he is the fourth member of the family to run the football club after his father, his uncle, and his grandfather. 

Andrea Agnelli’s cousin, Elkann had come under criticism from fans for the club’s poor results during the 2009 season. Ultra-fans saw Andrea as the rightful heir due to his family’s long-time association with the club.

When Andrea entered the club, it was still dealing with the aftermath of the infamous Calciopoli scandal. In this tough period, Juventus' arch enemy was dominating Italian football. Just before Andrea, Inter Milan became the champion of Europe. It was the last thing Juve fans wanted. But Andrea Agnelli is endorsed with overseeing the club’s transition into the new stadium and balancing their finances as a result of the ongoing recession in Italy. 

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One of his first acts as the new president was to appoint Sampdoria duo Giuseppe Marotta as the Director of Sport and Luigi Delneri as the new Coach. New management's first season resulted in 7th position in Serie A. It was not satisfying at all. 

In 2011, he appointed former captain and fan favorite Antonio Conte as the new manager of Juventus, replacing Delneri. Marotta and Agnelli reinforced Juventus squad with good economic sign-ins. Andrea Agnelli's management skill turned out really good.

Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Leonardo Bonucci were some of the sign-ins that strengthen Juve's line-up. The team won the first Scudetto undefeated that same season. Since Serie A teams increased to 20, Juventus is the only club finishing a season unbeaten.

Bianconeri's reign has begun. Since then, Juventus have won every season in

, Three Scudetti with Conte and five with Massimiliano Allegri. Conte was not happy with all Andrea Agnelli's transfers.

Agnelli and Marotta managed to add top stars to the team like Carlos Tevez, Paul Pogba, Miralem Pjanic and Paulo Dybala with reasonable fees. Juventus paid €90 million to Napoli for top scoring forward Gonzalo Higuain. It was the most expensive player in Serie A's history. 

Andrea Agnelli's stats

show that he has done the best job. Since he is in charge, nine out of ten seasons Juventus won the league title.

Things in European competitions weren't as good as domestic. They made two finals in 2014-15 and 2016-17 UEFA Champions League, but they were defeated to Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. 

In 2017-18 season, they faced Real Madrid in semi-finals. Cristiano Ronaldo's Stunning performance was enough for eliminating Juventus. After this season Andrea Agnelli made a change in his plans for the club. He broke Higuain's record with the €100 million transfer of

. 

He obviously wanted Juve to be UCL champion. Juventus was celebrating its fifth scudetto in a row with Allegri, meanwhile they were eliminated again in UCL. Ajax defeated Juve at the quarter-final match with getting a score from young defender

.

Domestic league was no longer an issue for Agnelli. He made big changes then. Starting with departure of Giuseppe Marotta and Massimiliano Allegri and replacing them with Fabio Paratici and Maurizio Sarri. 

Matthijs de Ligt joined Juve with about €80 million, making him one of the most expensive defenders of all time. But the result was the same, Domestic champions and elimination in UCL. Federico Chiesa is most recent Andrea Agnelli’s transfer for Juventus.

Although last season was under the influence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Agnelli fired Sarri and replaced him with former Juventus midfielder Andrea Pirlo hoping for an UCL championship under his command.

Andrea is also a member of the European Club Association’s executive board. In 2015, he was chosen to the UEFA Executive Committee on behalf of ECA, where he will represent the 220 ECA member clubs alongside reelected ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge for the next two years 2015-17. Since 2002 Rummenigge became the chairman of the executive board of the Bayern Munich Club. 

After Rummenigge in 2017, he became the chairman of ECA. Both Andrea Agnelli and Rummenigge had a lot of influence on UCL qualification rules. These changes mean that the teams who finish in the top 4 in Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga will earn automatic qualification. Furthermore, winners of the previous season’s Champions League and Europa League will also be in the groups. However, the numbers from other leagues were reduced. 

He has served as a board member of the Serie A National League of Professionals and a board member of the Foundation of General Mutuality in Professional Team Sports from 2014 to 2017.

Andrea Agnelli's Personal life

Andrea Agnelli's love life might be interesting as the prince of Turin.

He married Emma Winter in 2005. Emma Winter is an English business woman.

Andrea Agnelli's wife is an expert in Business and Law and she is currently teaching at University of Portsmouth. 

Emma first met Andrea when they were working for Philip Morris International in Switzerland. Andrea Agnelli's children might be some day the Juventus chairman. They had a daughter in the first year of their marriage. Andrea was the smallest member in Agnelli family until his son was born in 2011. Giacomo Dai Agnelli now is the next in line for Agnelli Empire.

However, their marriage had a serious crisis when it turned out that Andrea had an affair with Turkish model Deniz Akalin. In 2016 Andrea Agnelli and Emma Winter separated. She is now moved on and started dating Riccardo Chieppa while she is still officially married to Agnelli.

Deniz Akalin is ex-wife of Francesco Calvo, once chief revenue officer of Juventus, now Chief revenue officer for FC Barcelona. Akalin and Calvo have a daughter named Mila. But their marriage ended with entering Andrea Agnelli. 

Andrea Agnelli's girlfriend studied art history at Princeton University. She later completed her ,asters at Bocconi University in Italy's Milan city.

Andera Agnelli's Net Worth

Despite

Andrea Agnelli's net worth

is hard to calculate but he certainly is the third richest club owner in the world after Sheikh Mansour, owner of Manchester City and Dietrich Mateschitz, owner of Red bull. Although the wealth is not exactly for one individual person but for the whole Agnelli family but still he is the most important living Agnelli.

Andrea Agnelli's net worth reported near $13.5 billion, which proves that he is one of the top five richest men in Italy.

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