AC Milan Board Member Discusses The Vision Of The Club and Next Key Steps

AC Milan board member Giorgio Furlani - who is a portfolio manager at Elliott Mgmt. - spoked to Forbes via Sempre Milan to discuss the vision of the club following their title victory.

On the stadium: “Today we want to build a new stadium with Inter. San Siro is a stadium of great memories for the AC Milan fans, including myself; we are working on a project to have a new stadium: we want it to be among the best in European football.”

On bureaucratic challenges: “In Italy various clubs have difficulty in getting the stadium project off the ground; it is very important for the growth of a team to have a modern stadium. In the middle there is, however, the bureaucracy that has created so many problems for us. I was hoping for a progressive, modern and forward-thinking city like Milan, where the approval process would be simpler, but it was rather complicated. However, we continued the project. Frankly, I hoped the project was almost done today, but it’s not. We will continue to push and we hope to give the Milan fans what they deserve, that is, a real model stadium in which their Club plays.”

On the brand: “Milan has always had a lot of fans, it’s a fantastic brand that has fans all over the world who really care about the team. In recent years they have been a bit ‘dormant’ due to performances below the usual level on a sporting level that have not allowed them to play in the top European competition.”

On European pedigree: “In my opinion the trick is: to win or, at least, have some degree of success, but not at all costs. Milan, historically speaking, belongs to the same group as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, etc. Milan are among the big names in continental Europe, but as a club it comes from 8 years of difficulty in which it has lost relevance. We are now starting to bridge that gap. Now Milan are growing and are on a trajectory to catch up with those clubs and look, I could argue that yes, the past was difficult – as I said – but the future is very interesting and fun.”