Profile: Lazio’s comeback king, a throwback to a forgotten era
IMAGO | The owner and president of S.S. Lazio, Claudio Lotito, at Stadio Olimpico.
With Champions League football already guaranteed, Lazio are likely to secure runners up spot in Serie A this weekend. For its president, Claudio Lotito, it is a return “to the Olympus of football”. How has he achieved it?
Among Italy’s biggest clubs, Lazio have the lowest combined five-year losses – of just €21 million. Neighbours Roma and AC Milan have surpassed that by a factor of 30 since 2018.
Why it matters: In an era where clubs are looking for the next big strategic idea, Lazio’s success is predicated on old fashioned values of frugality and empowering a great manager. Could it be a recipe for other’s success?
The perspective: On taking over a near-bankrupt Lazio in 2004 Lotito was dismissed as another of what Italians call I ricchi scemi, “the rich idiots” – another wealthy, outspoken football chairman who court adulation from the terraces.
31 May 2023 - 3:42 PM
It seems as if every contemporary footballing success story has its own off the pitch back story, whether the influx of private equity funds (AC Milan), state-backed wealth (Man City and Newcastle), American ownership and expertise (Arsenal), amazing recruitment (Atalanta), use of applied data (Brentford), superior player trading (Brighton) or player development (Real Sociedad).
But what if a club overachieves without a compelling off pitch narrative? Despite mediocre revenues and c
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