Eleven has appointed Giovanni Zurleni the group’s new MD in Italy.
Zurleni has over 20 years of experience in the sports and sports media industries and was VP, commercial & partnerships at DAZN from 2018-2019, prior to which he was commercial and marketing director for Lega B, where he worked to maximise commercial revenues and branding opportunities for Serie B and its clubs, through an innovative centralised platform for marketing, media and digital services.
Zurleni also spent over a decade in senior roles with leading Serie A club Inter Milan, where he was the club’s head of international brand and business development for five years.
Zurleni takes over the role of Eleven MD from Mattia Baldassarre, who will continue to support Eleven’s business development on a group wide level as well as leading the Aser Ventures portfolio company Epico as CEO and co-founder.
In addition to his Eleven role, Zurleni will be chief revenue officer for Italy for Eleven’s parent company Aser Ventures, with responsibility for driving partnerships and innovation, as well as identifying new commercial opportunities and developing strategic deals.
Commenting on the appointment, Eleven CEO Luis Vicente said: “Giovanni brings with him a wealth of experience and a strong track record of driving innovation, business growth and sustainability over two decades in the sports industry. He has a passion for finding inventive solutions to engage and grow sports audiences and he will be a fantastic addition to our team. While welcoming Giovanni, I would like to thank Mattia for all his work as our Italy Managing Director and to wish him the very best with his new responsibilities with Eleven and Epico”.
Zurleni added: “I’m excited to be working with Luis, Eleven’s founder Andrea Radrizzani and the rest of the Eleven team to engage Eleven’s subscribers in Italy in the best possible way. There is a massive opportunity to deliver for underserved fans in Italy and I’m looking forward to leading that effort, alongside my exceptional team and our partners”.
