Are Foreign Investors Being Welcomed by Serie A?

(Photo by New Press/Getty Images)

The recent purchase of Bologna FC, which narrowly escaped relegation last season by finishing in 17th position in Serie A, hadn’t met the scale of other eminent signings during the concurrent transfer window.

Granted, the first goal scored by Cristiano Ronaldo in a Real Madrid jersey last week was feted with more ceremonious reaction than the managerial change witnessed by the lowly Italian club.

There are seemingly subtle, if non-existent, reverberations following the footsteps of Albanian businessman Rezart Taci, who now officially owns an 80 percent share in the Bologna-based side. But this particular change in ownership warrants appropriate recognition in studying the greater scope and health of Italian football.

Unlike the English Premier League—which has felt the largest brunt of temptation to capitulate clubs to wealthy entrepreneurs under lucrative circumstances—there has been an inviolable air about teams in the Italian system.

Foreign investors were hardly mentioned in the refrain of purchasing a football organization in Italy, but Taci has cut the banner as the first to do so.

Taci has explained he will be assertive as the majority stakeholder in the club, alluding to a more active participation off the pitch.

"It's a pleasure for me to come into the Italian football market,” he said. “Our objective is to strengthen the team and we will spend aggressively in order to make the team competitive."

Of course, the monetary value of the aforementioned 80 percent share is at an approximate €43 million, thereby limiting the extent of his machinations and purse in the market.

However, this presents a unique and unprecedented proposition for Serie A. A once impregnable league replete with native owners may be caving into the pressures of the recession-ridden economy and the challenges of maintaining the pace of the EPL and La Liga.

Real Madrid, it must be said, has only upped the ante required to compete with the best in Europe, with president Florentino Perez spending lavishly on Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema to create an intimidating—and gaudy—facade.

In that case, it has become harder for lesser teams to be appreciated, acknowledged or relevant in their own domestic enterprise.

However, up until a few weeks ago, tradition was also being waged in Italy.

For this project is not about turning a minnow into a monstrosity, as Abu Dhabi billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan wishes to accomplish with Manchester City. Rather, this has more resounding implications in the direction of ownership in Serie A, and the subsequent finances foreign leadership would afford clubs in the peninsula.

In other words, despite Bologna’s modesty, they could have very well set the dominoes in motion.

The same theme confronts AS Roma, which has publicly stated their interest in selling to a Swiss consortium to overtake the club in 2008. Negotiations have stalled, and it is clear that Roma has been handcuffed in the market as a result of the team’s lack of secure finances and unstable managerial structure.

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