Marotta explains how football has changed and how he became a director

Originally posted on Football Italia | By Peter Young | Last updated Nov 14, 2025 9:53 AM ET

Inter President Beppe Marotta has explained how he first came to work in football as a teenager, and has explained how the sport has changed since he first began life as a director with his hometown team Varese over 50 years ago.

Marotta was a guest at the master’s degree ceremony for Sports Management students at the RCS Academy Business School in Milan, and gave an interview to Daniele Dallera of Corriere della Sera on the same day.

Marotta on his first steps in football and the sport’s unrecognisable changes

During his interview, published on Friday, Marotta explained how he first came to work as a director in football, explaining that he had the fortune of ‘growing up’ in and around his local side Varese, who had been in Serie A in the mid 1960s.

REGGIO NELL’EMILIA, ITALY – MAY 04: Giuseppe Marotta, Sports CEO of FC Internazionale, looks on prior to the Serie A TIM match between US Sassuolo and FC Internazionale at Mapei Stadium – Citta’ del Tricolore on May 04, 2024 in Reggio nell’Emilia, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

“I started at Varese in favourable circumstances. I lived near the stadium, I loved the passion. I was six or seven years old at the time and attended Varese’s training sessions, and they were playing in Serie A at the time,” Marotta explained (via La Gazzetta dello Sport).

“I learned about everything, I learned about negotiating. I spoke with the kitman and got myself a strip in exchange for cleaning the boots, pumping up the balls, helping to wash the shirts.

“I finished high school at 18 and got my first contract as a director. I never graduated (From university) because I started working so early. I was the director of the youth team by 19.”

Marotta went on to explain that his route into football is not replicable in his day and age given the amount of change that football has encountered since he first started working in the sport all those years ago.

“It was a very different sport compared to today’s, where we see these big companies listed on the stock exchange. Back then, they were simply sports clubs, run by the owner, who was usually a local entrepreneur.

“At Varese, Giovanni Borghi, who ran the company Ignis, decided to show his gratitude to the local community by taking over the city’s sports club. It was a multi-sport association. Varese beat Juve 5-1 in 1968, they won everything in Basketball with Dino Meneghin, (they had) internationally renowned cyclists, boxers.

“At the end of the season, the CFO was called in to calculate all the losses. Today, it’s completely different. Sport today could no longer exist like that. That model of ownership no longer exists.

“The clubs became limited companies, with different legal structures. There are criminal, civil and sporting laws to abide by. The structure of the organisation has also changed. Industrial and financial experts have come in.

“Before, it was only ever about the sporting goal, and that cost what it cost. Today, sustainability means respecting the financial aspect first. The passion is still there, though.”

This article first appeared on Football Italia and was syndicated with permission.

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