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US-owned acquisition of Monza! Berlusconi family withdraws from the Italian football history stage

5:07pm, 4 July 2025【Football】

Written by/Hanbing July 1, 2025 is the end of an era for Italian football. American investment company Beckett Layne Ventures has acquired 80% of AC Monza's shares, with the remaining 20% ​​being transferred in June next year. The sale of Monza means that the Berlusconi family, which has dominated Italian football for nearly 40 years, will completely withdraw from the historical stage of Italian football.

Since the old Berlusconi invested $20 million to join AC Milan on February 20, 1986, the Berlusconi family was once the most influential family in Italian football, and stood with the Juventus Agnelli family and the Inter Milan Morati family. But with the sale of Monza, the only three major families remained in the Agnelli family.

When Monza was still struggling for relegation in the spring, news that the Berlusconi family was interested in withdrawing and negotiating with US capital was already reported in Italian football. Everything was a foregone conclusion after the team was relegated. This time, the Berlusconi family received only 45 million euros. In order to ensure the smooth transition of investors, Galliani will remain in office in the next season until the transaction is completely completed next summer before withdrawing. Italian media speculates that it is only a matter of time before he bids farewell to football.

Since acquiring Monza for a low price of 3 million euros in September 2018, the Berlusconi family has invested a total of 285 million euros in nearly seven years, bringing Monza, who has a century-old team history, to Serie A for the first time.

The Berlusconi family is not a mess left. In addition to the U-Power Stadium, which won the title of Serie A for the best stadium last season and the modern Luigi Silvio Berlusconi Monzelo Training Center, Brianza, where Monza is located, there are also two auto industry families Agladis and Fontanas who have entered Monza's management. Monza, without the Berlusconi family, still has strong local elements.

In the summer of 2016, after Berlusconi sold AC Milan to a Chinese consortium, Italian football did not believe that the former prime minister and media tycoon would give up their enthusiasm for football. After all, Milan has experienced 30 years of glory in his hands. Milan's team has won 53 trophies since 1901. The 30-year-old "Berlusconi Dynasty" has occupied 29, including 4 Intercontinental Cups/Club World Cups, 5 Champions League, 8 Serie A, 6 Italian Super Cups, 5 European Super Cups and 1 Italian Cup. These trophies are all symbols of the "Berlusconi Dynasty".

The Berlusconi family personally experienced and witnessed the entire process of Serie A becoming the "Small World Cup" and then turning from prosperity to decline. Capello, Saki, and Ancelotti have successively created glory, including the three Dutch musketeers, Martini, Baresi, Costakuta, Albertini, Gattuso, Sidov, Shevchenko, Kaka, Inzaggi, Nesta, Pirlo, Ibrahimov, Girardino, Pato, etc., all of them are the brilliant stars of the old Berlusconi and his Milan era.

Unfortunately, with the decline of the Italian economy, the Berlusconi family lost its glory as it used to be. In 2016, Berlusconi, the oldest, sold Milan, which bears a huge debt of 220 million euros, and received a huge return of 740 million euros, almost 37 times the acquisition price 30 years ago. After withdrawing from Monza nine years later, the Berlusconi family also received a return of 15 times compared to the acquisition price. But after Berlusconi died in 2023, other members of the family actually had the intention to retreat. After all, they did not have that enthusiasm.

The Italian football world today is no longer the same as before. The Berlusconi family, rooted in Italy, has no ability or willingness to stop the aggressive American capital. Today, as many as 10 of the 20 Serie A clubs are North American Capital Holdings. Including Monza, which has just completed the acquisition, there are also 4 American clubs in Serie B. This has not yet been considered as clubs such as Sampdoria and Brescia, which are being negotiated for sale to US-funded clubs. The times do not belong to the old-school Italian family like Berlusconi. Agnelli (Juventus), Lottito (Lazio) and de Laurentis (Napoli) are still struggling to maintain it, but Udinese's Pozzo family has chosen to go with the flow.

In fact, the Berlusconi family sold Monza as a farewell, and in this era, it could not even cause too much splash, which is enough to prove that this world has changed.