Opinion: Berlusconi forever changed world soccer
The former Italian prime minister brought AC Milan to new heights starting in the late 1980s
Those of us lucky to be alive in the 1980s and ‘90s got to witness lots of great teams. One of them was the AC Milan side coached by Arrigo Sacchi who would go on to dominate Europe.
The team featured the likes of Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Donadoni, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, to name just a few of the superstars, who prominently featured in the starting lineup in those years.
The club was owned by a charismatic, flamboyant and gaffe-prone man named Silvio Berlusconi. The man who revolutionized Italian politics — for better or worse depending on your political leanings — was first and foremost a soccer visionary.
Berlusconi, a media tycoon and former three-time Italian prime minister, died Monday at the age of 86 following a bout with leukemia.
To those who follow politics, Berlusconi was a populist who used his media empire into a chance to run for office To soccer fans, Berlusconi was more famous for being the owner of AC Milan. Under his ownership, the Rossoneri captured 29 trophies, including eight Serie A titles and five European titles. His time as owner brought other stars to Milan such as Andriy Shevchenko, Ronaldo and Kaka.
“All of the things I work on are profane, but Milan is sacred,” Berlusconi once said. “I remember when my dad would bring me to the stadium and I didn’t pay for a ticket because I was small. So I repeat, Milan is a matter of love.”
Berlusconi was the team’s “presidente” at a time when Italian soccer was still a family-run business powered by men such as Giovanni Agnelli at Juventus Massimo Moratti at Inter Milan.
Those days are long gone. Multinational corporations and oil-rich nations now bankroll clubs. AC Milan is now under American ownership and Inter under Chinese control. Only the Agnelli family remain in power at Juventus.
Even as a politician, Berlusconi never really left the sport. After selling AC Milan in 2017, he went on to buy Monza just a year later. The team went on to earn promotion to Serie A last year for the first time in club history. Berlusconi promised that someday they could win the Serie A title.
So much of what Berlusconi called for the 1990s — such as names on the back of jerseys for merchandising purposes and expanded rosters so coaches could rotate lineups — are all staples of the game today. He favored a European super league, which ultimately led UEFA to expand the European Cup and rebrand it the Champions League.
AC Milan opened fan shops under his watch and he urged his team to go on international tours. All this before other teams did it. Berlusconi saw the sport as entertainment — this is the same man who bought the popular ‘80s show “Dallas” to Italian TV screens — and clubs across the world now do the same.
After AC Milan won back-to-back European Cups in 1989 and ‘90, Berlusconi turned the northern Italian city into the European capital of soccer. It was an amazing turnaround given that Berlusconi had saved the club from near bankruptcy when he bought it in 1986.
Even when he entered politics, he named his right-wing party Forza Italia — after the country’s popular soccer chant — much to the chagrin of some who felt he had stolen a piece of the national team by using that slogan.
Like him or not, Berlusconi will be remembered for changing modern soccer into the big business it is today.