Andrea Radrizzani

Andrea Radrizzani (born 10 September 1974) is an Italian businessman and the majority owner of EFL Championship side Leeds United. He is also the chairman and founder of Eleven Sports.

Andrea Radrizanni
Born(1974-09-10)10 September 1974
Rho, Milan, Italy
NationalityItalian
Alma materLibera Università di Lingue e Comunicazione IULM
OccupationFounder and group chairman of Aser; co-founder and vice-president of MP & Silva, owner of Leeds United, chairman and founder of Eleven Sports, president of Baofeng Sports International and Chairman, founder of Play for Change Foundation and director at Whistle Sports.
Net worthUS$550 million (2018)[1]

Early life and education

Radrizzani was born in Rho, a metropolitan area of Milan. He graduated with a degree in public relations from IULM University in 1996.

Career

Radrizzani is founder and group chairman of Aser, a global investment company that focuses on the media and sport sectors.[2]

He is also a founding partner and vice chairman of MP & Silva,[3] an international sports rights company with 18 offices around the world,[4] and a media partner of FIFA, MLB, Premier League, F1, NBA, UEFA, Arsenal F.C. and Roland Garros.

In May 2016, following a $1 billion sale of MP & Silva to a Chinese investment group, Radrizzani was appointed as vice chairman of MP & Silva and president of Baofeng Sports International.[5][6]

Radrizzani is the founder of the Play for Change Foundation.[7]

He worked as an advisor for Chinese Suning Holdings Group during their takeover of Serie A side Inter Milan during June 2016.[8]

His company Aser bought an equity investment in the digital media network Whistle Sports on 21 June 2018.[9]

Eleven Sports Network

In April 2015, through Aser, Radrizzani launched Eleven Sports Network, an international sports content platform and TV Network.

In May 2018, Eleven Sports Network pulled off a coup by securing a three-year deal to broadcast La Liga football matches in the UK and Ireland, which had been previously broadcast on Sky Sports.[10] Eleven Sports Network continued increasing its portfolio in the UK and Ireland by securing exclusive Serie A football rights from BT Sport; the deal started in August 2018 and will last until the 2020–21 season. The Serie A rights represented another coup partly due to high interest after Cristiano Ronaldo signed for Italian side Juventus[11]

Purchase of Leeds United

In January 2017, through Aser, Radrizzani made an investment in 50 per cent of the share capital of Leeds United, making him co-owner of the club.[12]

On 23 May 2017, Radrizzani announced the 100% buyout of Leeds United, buying the remaining 50% shares from previous co-owner Massimo Cellino, with Radrizzani taking full ownership of the club.[13] Radrizzani's ownership of the club got off to a dramatic start; on 25 May, only two days after the takeover, the day before Leeds were set to activate the option to extend Garry Monk's contract, Monk resigned as Leeds United head coach, with new owner Radrizzani saying that Monk's decision to quit the club had been a 'shock'.[14][15] After taking over the club he made changes to Leeds' backroom staff, including appointing Victor Orta as director of football, Ivan Bravo as Director of Strategy and Angus Kinnear as Chief Executive.

On 15 June 2017, Radrizzani appointed his first head coach when APOEL manager Thomas Christiansen was announced as the new head coach of Leeds United[16] to replace the departed head coach Garry Monk, with the club announcing that they "wanted to appoint someone who can help us create a winning culture at the club and unite everyone connected with Leeds United, from the players to the supporters".[17]

On 26 June, Radrizzani brought back Leeds Ladies to Leeds United ownership to become Leeds United Ladies again after the club had previously became its own entity after previous owner Massimo Cellino decided to stop Leeds United funding in 2014.[18]

On 28 June 2017, Radrizzani completed the purchase of Elland Road, making the stadium property of Leeds United for the first time since 2004.[19]

On 3 January 2018, Radrizzani announced an official partnership for Leeds with Aspire Academy in Qatar.[20] Aspire own Spanish team Cultural Leonesa who have seen Leeds players Yosuke Ideguchi and Ouasim Bouy both join them on loan as part of the unique partnership.[21]

On 24 January 2018, Radrizanni introduced a new Leeds United badge which would be worn for the 2018/19 season onwards depicting the "Leeds Salute".[22] However, the design of the new badge attracted criticism from huge numbers of fans,[23][24] resulting in an online petition over 77,000 signatures strong against the design's introduction.[25] Radrizzani and the club decided to "re-open the consultation process" in light of the poor reception the new crest engendered.[25]

On 4 February 2018, Head Coach Thomas Christiansen was dismissed by Radrizzani, despite a promising start to his reign, after a poor run of results and with the team tenth in the table.[26] On 6 February 2018, Radrizzani appointed Barnsley Manager Paul Heckingbottom as the new head coach of Leeds United on an 18–month contract to replace Christiansen.[27][28]

On 7 March, towards the end of Leeds' 0-3 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers, just before the final whistle, Radrizzani in a series of Twitter posts, questioned the legality and fairness of the competition.[29] On 12 March, Radrizzani made public his decision to seek clarity from the Football League regarding league leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers, to seek clarification of the link with Wolves and 'super agent' Jorge Mendes.[30]

In March 2018, Radrizzani announced that Leeds United would be going on a post-season tour of Myanmar in May 2018 to play two friendlies.[31] However, the tour announcement drew criticism nationally and from MP's and Amnesty International due to the political situation in the country.[32][33] Radrizzani defended the choice of location, declaring that 'This is about people not governments'.[34]

In Radrizzani first season of sole owner, after being top of the League for the first quarter of the season, and dropping to fifth at the halfway point, Leeds missed out on playoffs completely at the end of the 2017-18 season, after a disappointing run of form in the second half of the season, finishing thirteenth in the table.[35]

On 24 May 2018, Radrizzani and Leeds United announced that 49ers Enterprises had bought shares in the club to become a minority investor, the 49's Enterprises is the business arm of the NFL side San Francisco 49ers owned by Denise DeBartolo York, Jed York and John York.[36]

Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom was sacked by Radrizzani on 1 June 2018, Heckingbottom had been at the club for just four months.[37]

Argentine manager Marcelo Bielsa was named by Radrizzani as the clubs new Head Coach on 15 June, to replace Paul Heckingbottom, signing a two-year contract with option of a third year, after two weeks of negotiations with the club. In doing so he became the highest-paid manager in Leeds United history.[38][39]

Radrizzani entered late talks to buy Italian Serie B side F.C. Bari 1908 in July 2018, to become a co-owner/investor, Radrizzani pulled out of the deal, due to a financial deadline due to F.C. Bari 1908 's financial situation, Radrizzani on 16 July 2018 revealed 'Unfortunately, the short time available to perform detailed and thorough due diligence checks, force us reluctantly to abandon this idea and challenge'.[40]

On 31 July, Radrizzani signed Striker Patrick Bamford to Leeds for £7 million (rising up to £10 million), the move represented the highest fee Leeds had spent on a player since Robbie Fowler's move to the club in 2001.[41][42][43]

After the sale of promising young player Ronaldo Vieira to Italian side Sampdoria on 1 August, Radrizzani defended the sale to supporters by saying 'We cannot buy players and never sell players.'[44]

During the 2018–19 Leeds United F.C. season, Radrizzani Leeds' finished the regular season in third place after dropping out of the automatic promotion places with 3 games left after a defeat to ten-man Wigan Athletic on 19 April,[45] Leeds qualified for the playoffs versus sixth-placed Derby County, including starting in first leg of the playoffs in a 1–0 win at Pride Park, to bring into a 1-0 aggregate lead into the home leg at Elland Road, however Leeds lost the second leg 2–4 with Leeds also down to ten men after the red card of Gaetano Berardi,[46] the loss saw Derby progress 4-3 on aggregate to the final against Aston Villa and Radrizzani's club narrowly miss out on promotion.[46]

In August 2019, Radrizzani was one of the main stars of Leeds United documentary 'Take Us Home' documenting the 2018–19 season on Amazon Prime, featuring in all episodes, the documentary was narrated by Academy Award winning actor and Leeds United fan Russell Crowe.[47][48][49][50]

On 23 September 2019, Radrizzani was present at The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 as Leeds Head Coach Marcelo Bielsa and the entire Leeds United squad won the FIFA Fair Play Award: 2019 for Bielsa's sportsmanship in May 2019 to allow Aston Villa to score a goal unopposed in a game in which the ultimate result ended Leeds' 'mathematical' chances of automatic promotion the prior season.[51][52][53]

Sports media rights expertise

Radrizzani is experienced in media rights in sport.[54] He specialises in digital media[55] and the growth of sports broadcasting in international markets.[56]

References
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