Bologna Football Club 1909

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http://www.ft.com - By Roger Blitz in London - Last updated: June 12 2008 20:21

Bologna football club, which last week won promotion to Italys top league, Serie A, announced on Thursday that it had been sold to TAG Partners, a US investment company.

The sale marks the first foray of US-based investors into football clubs on continental Europe. Up until now, US investors have focused exclusively on buying up clubs in the English Premiershit. Manchester United, Liverfekkin'wankscum and Aston Villa are all owned by US investors, as is Derby County, which was relegated from the Premiershit last month. Arsenal has built links with a Major League Soccer team, Colorado Rapids, after its owner Stan Kroenke bought a stake in the club.

Bologna¢s announcement, made on the club’s website, said TAG would acquire 100 per cent of the club for 18m. TAG will also invest 20m into Bologna, the statement said. Bologna is being sold by Aktiva Spa and the sale is taking place in two tranches à a first tranche of 80 per cent at the start of next month and the remainder by the end of the 2008-09 season.

The deal leaves Alfredo Cazzola in place as Bologna’s president and Aktiva will retain a presence on the board. Bologna has been Italian champions seven times but its last title was in 1964. It finished second in Serie B and returns to the italian top flight for the first time in three years.

Unlike the UK, becoming an overseas-based owner of a continental European football club is fraught with difficulty. Spanish clubs have constitutions that restrict ownership to fans and members while in Italy the culture tends to leans towards Italian companies or families as owners. George Soros, the billionaire financier, last week announced he was no longer interested in buying Roma, another Italian Serie A team.



http://www.goal.com – 13/06/2008 13:00

The foreign take-overs in Italy have begun after an American business syndicate bought newly promoted Serie A side Bologna. There has been much debate in the Italian peninsula over the issue of foreign ownership due to the precarious situation of Roma, who have been involved in a soap opera sale saga involving American businessman George Soros.

The buyout appears to now be in dead in the waters, but instead another Italian club have been taken over by Americans. Bologna who this season won promotion from Serie B back into the top-flight following a final-day win over Pisa, have been bought by American group TAG Partners LLC, represented by Paul Galvin.

The new owners will control 80 per cent of the club’s shares by July 1, and will obtain the remaining 20 per cent by this time next year. Current club President Alfredo Cazzola will remain and will still have a say in the running of the club, but it is inevitable that there will be those who will be worried that Serie A is heading in the same direction as the English Premiershit in selling its soul to foreigners.

The new American owners have pledged that there will be a cool €25 available to spend on player transfers, and Sampdoria’s Sergio Volpi has already become the first signing.

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Bologna pick Pavlyuchenko
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ ... un21b.html – Saturday 21 June, 2008

Bologna aim to celebrate their promotion to Serie A by splashing out £7m on Russian star Roman Pavlyuchenko. The striker has scored 41 goals in the last two campaigns with Spartak Moscow and impressed in Euro 2008 for his country. Although Pavlyuchenko has earned interest from the likes of Barcelona and Chelsea, the 26-year-old has become a prize target for little Bologna.

One thing that may go in their favour is that the club has just been bought out by American investors eager to build their profile with a big signing. Before the tournament kicked off, Pavlyuchenko’s price tag was around £7m, but if he keeps up this kind of form when Russia take on Holland this evening, then it is set to rise rapidly.

Meanwhile, Bologna are also looking at bringing back Tomas Locatelli, who played at the Stadio Dall’Ara from 2000 to 2005. The Trequartista is currently a free agent after the end of his contract with Siena. The Rossoblu are building a solid side, having already captured Sergio Volpi and are close to signing Sampdoria defender Cristian Zenoni

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[Bagg10]

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[Amedio]

[Messinterista]

especially arshavin he is an awsume player. i dun think pav will go to bologna though. he is perhaps a bit too of a big name after this tournie, he'd be after a bigger team.

[RomaShield27]

Blog: Bologna buyout
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ ... /jh37.html – Friday 4 July, 2008

Italian football needs new investment, but James Horncastle wonders whether Bologna’s recent sale to an American will actually change Serie A for the better

What has been the most important event in Italian football this summer, I asked myself last week. Wading through Italy’s sports newspapers you’d be forgiven for thinking it was the demise of the Azzurri, but then I came across a story hidden away in the back pages that has the potential to change calcio as we know it – the sale of Bologna to an American, Joe Tacopina.

Great, I thought, here’s another Italian club looking to improve, modernise and bring itself into the 21st Century, following the model pioneered in the Premiershit. Tacopina is known as the ‘King of the Courtroom’, the man who wins cases that can’t be won. But can he help newly-promoted Bologna to the Scudetto, something they haven’t achieved since 1964?

According to reports, his company Tag Partners has made £25m available to buy new players ahead of next season. That should help Coach Daniele Arrigoni keep the Rossoblu in Serie A. Bologna, however, are not the new Chelsea. Their new owners do not appear to have deep enough pockets to outbid even Italy’s middleweight teams – Fiorentina and Palermo have already doled out over £30m apiece this summer, while Inter and Milan bide their time.

So what does Tacopina see in Bologna? Does he plan to redevelop the Rossoblu’s 83-year-old stadium, which is owned by the council and costly to maintain? Doubtful. The council treat the Renato Dall’Ara as a heritage sight, making it impossible to refurbish with moneymaking entities like hospitality boxes and leisure facilities. Plans to move the club out of the city – so far out, in fact, that Bologna would be closer to Imola – have proved unpopular and unworkable. That, in the short term at least, rules out a self-sustainable and profitable Bologna.

How committed is Tacopina? He was repeatedly linked with a swoop for Roma before the Bologna deal went through. So much so, that he was pictured holding a Giallorosso scarf on arriving in the capital. That has added to the scepticism of Bologna’s fans who think Tacopina has bought a Serie B club only to sell it as a Serie A one for a tidy profit. It’s difficult to see how else he can make good his investment, with a new stadium and collective TV deal still years away.

Serie A needs not just new money and faces but new ideas just as it did in the mid 1980s if it is to get back to its best. While Tacopina is welcome, I doubt he’ll bring about a sea change in Italian football. Juventus, meanwhile, are doing just that, adopting an English model of stadium development and merchandising which, I believe, will see them open a gap between themselves and the rest of the pack.

[Amedio]

I'm with the idea of pumping new blood to the Calcio, and consequently more money. Nonetheless, I rebuff the notion of Americanization of the Italian football. I can't negate the fact that the English Premiershit has benefited a lot financially and has attracted millions of fans worldwide during the last few years because of the improvement in almost all fields of the English football. Luring world-class players to the EPL, revamping stadiums, better TV deals, etc...are things which have changed the shape of football, not only in England, but also in Europe.

All football fans always need more excitation, real competitions and better services. They all definitely realise that football have been converted from the world's number one sport into an enormous business, but what type of business? Materialism certainly plays a role in defining the word "Business", a thing which with time will alter the nature of football from a passionate exciting sport into a soulless moneymaking business. Business in football is legal and desperately wanted, and above all it to some extent controls the game. But the question here who shall run the business, and therefore takes over the game?

Since I'm a Calcio fan, I'll limit my talking only to the league which I claim I somehow live inside its crazy atmosphere. America is well-known for producing the most successful moneymakers on the globe, thus England and its nature are a proper media for the American moneymakers to invest their huge sum money. Foreign investment in the Calcio is still in its primary stages, Calcio is in fact a virgin when is compared to the EPL. As far as I'm concerned, the Italian community, especially the businessmen, ought to be more conservative when they shake hands with foreign moneymakers.

Preserving the historical identity is an advantage of the Italian football over the English one. I absolutely won't enjoy watching 6 or more foreigners playing in my team's first eleven. What will be left for me to cheer on? My club's logo! Where will Italian youngsters nurture and shine? Italy is their homeland and their simplest natural right is to have the priority over any other foreign player. The English National Team is a typical example here of what the abstract business has done to the English football.

To sum it up, I'm not against investment in the Italian football. Although, I do prefer Italian money, and some sort of a balance between Italian and foreign money is acceptable, but within limits.

[RomaShield27]

Coelho: I Turned Down Toon, Celts For Bologna
www.goal.com – 4/07/2008 14:35

Brazilian full-back Dyego Rocha Coelho is excited to have joined Bologna, claiming that he chose to join despite interest from Newcastle and Celtic. Defender Coelho has agreed to join newly promoted Serie A outfit Bologna from Corinthians.

The Brazilian right-back, who spent last season on loan at Atlético Mineiro, gained notoriety in his homeland after a harsh challenge on Cruzeiro starlet Kerlon - performing one of his ‘seal dribbles’ - landed him a 120 day ban. The 25-year-old was set to move to Celtic in January but was sent back to Brazil after an unsuccessful trial period.

Now, though, Coelho has hinted that he wasn't keen on Celtic anyway and revealed that Newcastle were also interested in signing him. Furthermore, he thinks he can get his career back on track in Italy and perhaps even add to the solitary Brazil cap he won five years ago.

Asked if he'd been approached by Newcastle and Celtic, he told the Corriere dello Sport: “It's true, but I wanted to play in your country and, I will not hide, my wife strongly wanted to move to Italy.

“It is a club with great tradition, which has won seven Italian titles and is known and respected in the rest of the world. Now I'd like to win my place back in the Seleção thanks to Bologna."

[tonykart]

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Bologna sale to U.S. group falls through
http://football.uk.reuters.com – 13:17 BST, Wed 16 Jul 2008

MILAN, July 16 (Reuters) - Promoted Bologna will go into the new Serie A season without fresh investment after a deal to be bought by an American firm fell through, the club said on Wednesday.

The seven-times Italian champions said on their website (www.bolognafc.it) that the deal would not go ahead after TAG Partners LLC asked for another delay in the transaction.

"We did not take into consideration this new request. We don't agree with it and do not accept it," said president Alfredo Cazzola, who will now stay in charge.

The deal fell through as TAG failed to raise the funds needed, a financial source close to the situation told Reuters.

The global credit squeeze is hurting soccer deals as funds are not as easily accessible as before.

TAG had been due to acquire 100 percent of the club, valued at 18 million euros ($28.6 million).

The company, which was planning to invest at least 20 million euros, was meant to buy 80 percent in July and take the remaining 20 percent at the end of next season.

Bologna finished second in Serie B last month to end a three-year spell away from the top flight. They last won the Serie A title in 1964.

Top Italian side AS Roma were being eyed by billionaire U.S.-based financier George Soros last season but a deal was never struck.

Spain's Getafe, a similar size to Bologna, have been looking for a buyer but no transactions have materialised in the current economic climate.

[tonykart]

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Bologna appoint female President
http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_ ... ep13c.html – Saturday 13 September, 2008

After Roma’s Rosella Sensi, Bologna have elected the second female President of a Serie A club, Francesca Menarini. The glass ceiling has been well and truly shattered in Italian football, as in the space of a month two women have been appointed to the top job.

Sensi had effectively been in charge of Roma for several years while her father was in ill health and was formally named President after his death last month. Now Bologna have also made history by handing the reins to 44-year-old Menarini, while her father Renzo becomes the general manager.

“I am honoured and proud to be the first female President in the history of Bologna, the 25th President in almost 100 years of the club. “For a woman, the chance to express oneself in a typically male environment like football should be further motivation. After all, other industries that until recently were dominated by men now have women in positions of power.

“I hope there will be more female Presidents in football and sport in general. I haven’t spoken to Sensi yet, but I will call her to ask some advice.â€

[morra10]

[RomaShield27]

Italian football's first foreign owners (this time it looks like its for real) :

Albanian agrees to take over Bologna
Fri Jul 24, 2009 3:21pm BST

ROME, July 24 - Bologna's owners have agreed to sell their controlling stake in the Serie A club to Albanian oil businessman Rezart Taci, they said on Friday.

"Aktiva Spa... has reached an agreement to sell the controlling stake in Bologna FC to a company headed by Rezart Taci," read a statement on club's website (www.bolognafc.it).

"The agreement will be finalised in the first week of August."

Aktiva Spa is the company through which the family of president Francesca Menarini controls the seven times Italian champions, who scraped to safety in May having returned to the top flight after three years.

The Menarini family are selling up after angering fans by talking to disgraced former Juventus director Luciano Moggi about a possible consultancy role at the club.

Moggi has been banned from football for five years for his role in Italy's 2006 match-fixing scandal, in which Juve were demoted to Serie B, and the prospect of him working with Bologna quickly evaporated when the news came out.

AS Roma have also been linked to a sale to foreign buyers in recent years, but talks with a Swiss consortium broke down last month after U.S. billionaire investor George Soros pulled out of negotiations in 2008.

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[juventino_italiano]

[RomaShield27]

Lets hope Bologna can take some points off Inter for the sake of the league table, however unlikely.

[juventino_italiano]

Serie A Week 16 - 13/12/09 (14.00 UK)

Parma - Bologna
Stadio Tardini


The local derby sees two rivals on opposite ends of the table, as Parma are flying high in fourth place and Bologna are fighting off relegation.

Francesco Guidolin’s men keep on surprising, as last week’s 2-2 draw away to Genoa kept the newly-promoted side in the Champions League positions. He has achieved this despite the long-term injuries to McDonald Mariga, Alessandro Manzoni, Andrea Pisanu and Stefano Russo.

Valeri Bojinov and Alberto Paloschi have missed the last few games too, but should be at least fit for the bench. They are well covered with veteran Nicola Amoruso and Jonathan Biabiany, who last week broke his Serie A duck with a brace. Christian Panucci will start despite the negative headlines of the last few days following his altercation with Genoa President Enrico Preziosi.

Bologna are doing much better of late under Coach Franco Colomba, as even with a defeat they won’t be dropped into the relegation zone this weekend. The tactician has to make changes, though, as Daniele Portanova sits out a ban. Vangelis Moras, Massimo Mutarelli and mid-season signing Stephen Appiah are all on the treatment table and unable to make the trip.

Federico Casarini, 20, was given a chance in midfield last week and proved effective in the 2-1 victory over Udinese, his Serie A debut, so he should keep his place even though Nicola Mingazzini has completed his ban. The defence is revamped with Andrea Raggi and Miguel Angel Britos in the centre-back positions, but Salvatore Lanna is also a doubt with a muscular problem in training.

It’s a very special game for Marco Di Vaio, who had the best years of his career at the Stadio Tardini. From 1999 to 2002 the veteran bagged 41 Serie A goals for the Ducali, including 20 in just 33 games for his final season there. Last term he went so close to the Capocannoniere title, but so far this season he has scored only three times.

Home advantage could play a big part in this game, as Parma have picked up 16 of their total 25 points at the Tardini thanks to five wins, a draw and a single defeat against Cagliari on September 27. Curiously, that was also the last weekend that Bologna picked up a point on their travels. The Rossoblu are without a win away after three draws and four defeats, during which they have scored a total of four goals.

Keep an eye on: Martins Adailton (Bologna) – The free-kick specialist has been largely responsible for Bologna’s revival, netting four goals in only nine Serie A appearances. The 32-year-old Brazilian also provides valuable assists and could be inspired at the Tardini, having started his Italian career with Parma in 1997-98.

Last five in Serie A: Parma (L W W D D) Bologna (L W L D W)

Last season: Not played
Parma (probable): Mirante; Zaccardo, Dellafiore, Panucci; Lucarelli, Antonelli, Morrone, Dzemaili, Galloppa; Lanzafame, Amoruso

Bologna (probable): Viviano; Zenoni, Raggi, Britos, Lanna; Casarini, Guana, Mudingayi; Adailton; Di Vaio, Zalayeta

Ref: To follow...