Sampdoria goal is football survival

Ben Richardson
BBC News Online business reporter in Genoa, Italy

Filippo, (right), is proud of his team, but uncertain what the future holds

Filippo is a die-hard fan of Genoa's Sampdoria football club and he has the flag to prove it.

On match days he stands deep in the home terrace, surrounded by other Hell's Angels ultras, waving a giant banner that unfurls to more than twice his height.

It takes technique and elbow grease to keep the red, white, black and blue colours fluttering, and 20 minutes after the final whistle his brow is still glistening with sweat.

Sampdoria have beaten rivals Livorno 2-0 and Filippo is buzzing.

He talks quickly when asked what the future holds for a club that a couple of years ago was saddled with debts of 30m euros (£21m) and faced relegation from the second division.

Now playing in Serie A, he is certain that Sampdoria's survival in Italy's top league will depend on spending power and financial muscle.

"Money is a sickness in football," the 23-year-old says as the stadium empties around him. "Maybe we suffer from it more in this country; and if we don't, maybe it just feels that way."

Dark days?

Certainly supporters of the beautiful game in Italy have had very little to cheer about during the past few months.

All Serie A football teams are losing money Giuseppe Marotta, chief executive Sampdoria

The summer has been filled with allegations of match fixing, teams including Naples, Lazio and Parma have found massive holes in their accounts, and Italy's finance police have probed the books at all Serie A clubs.

The national team, meanwhile, performed poorly at the Euro 2004, compounding a disappointing showing at the World Cup.

A significant number of teams across Italy, as well as in countries such as England and Germany, are struggling in a sport that is now as much about business as it is about what happens on the field.

Turn Around

Giuseppe Marotta has more than 20 years experience running football clubs and took over at Sampdoria in April 2002, hired by the current owner who had bought the team a few months earlier.

Sitting in his new office on the fifth floor of one of Genoa's few skyscrapers, Mr Marotta takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes.

The home end may be full, but Sampdoria's coffers are empty

"The main problem facing Italian football is that the costs are more than the money coming in and Sampdoria is no different," he explains with a sigh and shrug of his well-tailored shoulders.

"All Serie A football teams are losing money. Players' wages are too high."

Sampdoria expects to make a loss this season of between 10m euros and 15m euros, despite having more than 20,000 season ticket holders and annual revenue topping 50m euros.

New broom?

Mr Marotta says he has "looked at the business from top to bottom" but still is unable to balance the books.

The revenues from sponsors and selling television rights are just not enough, and in a league where individual clubs negotiate their own broadcast rights, the biggest always take the lions share.

According to Mr Marotta, Italy's top clubs, AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Roma and Lazio, get 70% of all TV revenues.

For teams such as Sampdoria to start making money, he reckons that figure needs to drop to 40%.

Hobson's choice

Tim Parks is the author of "A Season with Verona" and has lived in Italy for more than two decades.

Sampdoria fans are enjoying their time back in Italy's top league

Sitting in the October sunshine near to the university where he teaches, Mr Parks says that in Italy the smaller teams "all know what the deal is".

The harsh financial realities mean that "it is almost better to play a bigger club and lose - because of the money you get - then it is to play against a smaller club and win," he explains.

Until things change, Sampdoria probably will have to rely on the benevolence financial backers.

The club's current president Riccardo Garrone is part of the family that runs Italian oil company ERG.

He took over Sampdoria in early 2002, paid off its debts and has bankrolled the team ever since.

Independence

Mr Marotta said he is trying to reduce costs so that the team is less reliant on hand outs, but is honest about Sampdoria's chances of survival without their white knight.

Wage costs are down by 30% this season, mainly as a result of replacing more expensive players with cheaper, younger rivals.

"Either things change, or there will be more teams going bust," he says bluntly.

The Sampdoria fans basking in victory only need open their match programmes to get a chilling reminder of how fickle football fortune can be.

The president of Livorno, the team they beat, is Aldo Spinelli. A decade earlier, Mr Spinelli was the money behind Sampdoria's arch rivals and stadium co-inhabitants Genoa.

Sampdoria fans will be hoping that their current saviour's footballing loyalty runs as deep as his pockets.