Zurleni named Eleven Italy MD
January 11, 2021
Eleven has appointed Giovanni Zurleni as the Group’s new Managing Director in Italy.
Zurleni will be responsible for further developing Eleven’s business and operations in Italy. He will work to deliver a first-class service to Eleven’s current subscribers and to engage new sports fans across the country.
Zurleni was Vice President, Commercial & Partnerships, at DAZN from 2018-2019, leading the team’s business development strategy and execution, coordinating global and local distribution deals with key partners and managing relationships and activations with national and international rights holders. Before that, 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 centralized platform for marketing, media and digital services.
Zurleni takes over the role of Eleven Managing Director 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.
Eleven Chief Executive Officer, 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.”