Football

It’s official: Carnevali is Juventus’s new CEO and general manager: ‘Proud and honoured’

The silent architect: numbers, vision and pragmatism in the man tasked with reshaping Juventus

by Marco Bellinazzo

12 June 2026

Giovanni Carnevali è il nuovo ad e dg della Juventus. ANSA/FLAVIO LO SCALZO ANSA

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

In Italian football, where hype often outweighs substance and the narrative moves faster than the results, Giovanni Carnevali has built his credibility away from the spotlight, with one distinctive trait: the ability to balance financial sustainability with sporting competitiveness. A rare combination, which now accompanies him as he takes the most delicate step of his career: assuming operational leadership of Juventus, as announced in a statement by the Bianconeri club following the departure of Frenchman Damien Comolli.

“I am proud and honoured to join this club, which is steeped in history and identity: I would like to thank the club, the majority shareholder and John Elkann for the trust they have placed in me,” were the first words of Juventus’s new chief executive and general manager. “I approach this new challenge with a great sense of responsibility and with the conviction that, through daily commitment, it is possible to build a path of lasting growth and a future of success. Together with all parts of the club, we will work to make Juventus an ever-greater force on the national and international stage, while respecting the club’s history and the ambitions of the Bianconeri fans.”

Carnevali is not one for slogans. Rather, he is a systematic manager who cut his teeth in sports marketing and honed his skills in the open-air laboratory that Sassuolo has been over the last fifteen years. His professional career is inextricably linked to the transformation of the Neroverdi from a provincial club into a European model of management. A journey in which industrial ownership – that of the Squinzi family – has been combined with dynamic governance, capable of bringing together targeted investment, talent development and financial discipline.

At Sassuolo, Carnevali has perfectly embodied the role of the modern club administrator: not only has he kept the club’s finances in order – often achieving a profit in a league as financially challenging as Serie A – but he has also forged a distinct sporting identity. Under his management, the club has established itself in the top flight, even coming close to European qualification and, above all, becoming a platform for developing young Italian players and emerging talents.

The “Sassuolo model” was no fluke, but a carefully crafted strategy: selective scouting, modest investment in transfer fees, technical development and resale at higher values. From Locatelli to Scamacca, from Raspadori to Frattesi, the list of capital gains realised is long and impressive. In Italian football, which is often reliant on broadcasting rights and faces structural difficulties in containing costs, Carnevali has managed to strike a virtuous balance between the balance sheet and the pitch.

This ability to generate value – both financial and sporting – is the real reason behind his appointment at Juventus. The Bianconeri have emerged from a period of extensive restructuring, marked by substantial losses that, over the course of just a few years, have necessitated four capital injections totalling nearly one billion euros, frequent changes in governance and an urgent need to restore the balance between costs and revenues, exacerbated by the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League next season. In this context, Carnevali represents a paradigm shift: less focus on signing ‘big-name’ players, and more attention to the player’s lifecycle as an asset.

It won’t be an easy task. Juventus is not Sassuolo: the expectations, the media pressure and the international stature are all different. In Turin, sporting success is not a matter of choice but an obligation, and it must be balanced with a level of sustainability that has been lacking in recent years. Carnevali will have to apply his approach on a much larger scale, whilst keeping intact the principles that have defined his success.

On a personal level, Carnevali is a pragmatic manager, capable of listening but also of making decisions. A man of connections, he has built up a solid network over time with agents, clubs and institutions, without ever losing sight of the company’s core objectives. He is not a centraliser, but a facilitator. In an increasingly complex football world, where the technical and financial sides must be in constant dialogue, this quality becomes crucial.

His arrival at Juventus is also part of a wider trend in European football: the search for ‘hybrid’ managers, capable of understanding both the language of the pitch and that of the statistics. These are figures less tied to their past as former players and more focused on a business-oriented approach to the sport. Carnevali fits this profile perfectly.

It remains to be seen what degree of real autonomy he will have at his disposal and how he will fit into the existing managerial and technical structure. But one thing is certain: by choosing Carnevali, Juventus has decided to invest in a vision of the club that is less short-term and more sustainable. An attempt to move away from a crisis-driven approach and build a stable path forward.

In a system that struggles to reinvent itself, Giovanni Carnevali’s career path, however, points to a real possibility: that of playing football differently, without compromising on ambition. Now the challenge is to prove that this model, born in the provinces, can hold its own even under the weight of history and Juventus’s expectations. Because, as is often the case, the numbers matter. But at Juventus, more than anywhere else, victories matter too – and above all else.