“As long as I’m there, Foggia won’t fail.” These were Canonico’s words following the match against Monterosi in December last year. From the patron’s headquarters it will take a few more days before the confidentiality agreement is dissolved. Something will probably be known next week also because the representatives of the foreign fund appear to have requested further documents.
It was June 17, 2021 when Nicola Canonico joined the corporate structure as a majority shareholder. After almost three years, 9 coaches (of which 5 only in the 2022/23 season) and a lost playoff final (to say that it was a complete robbery is not blasphemy) the time seems to have come for the building contractor from Palo del Colle to leave the helm of Calcio Foggia 1920. Three turbulent years from the disagreements with his partner Maria Assunta Pintus to the threats and attacks that characterized this last season. In these cases the title of Giuseppe Giacosa’s comedy comes in handy: “He who leaves the old path for the new, knows what he leaves, and does not know what he finds”.
Foggia currently has a good starting base. There are several players who have demonstrated that they are competitive and that they can be part of a relaunch project. The president pro tempore Canonico has been saying for at least two years that he would like to sell and unfortunately the latest events leave no hope. We are talking about a foreign and in particular American fund. Many football clubs are managed through these funds, in particular they are private equity. They are investment firms in which investors, institutional or private, raise capital and invest it in small and medium-sized companies not listed on the stock exchange and with growth potential. A recent survey by AIFI (the Italian association of private equity, venture capital and private debt) underlined how this type of asset has increased its value in football, going from 10% in 2013 to 35% in 2023 in Serie A. In recent years these forms of investment have also been affecting Serie B and Serie C clubs such as Cesena, Padova and Triestina. The strategy is clear: investors have understood that they can make profits with football.
The Foggia brand is very attractive and negative equity is not a problem. Imagine how much the team would earn if it played in Serie A today. The hardest part is getting there. With a significant investment, prepared management and planning Foggia can dream big. And the repercussions on the local economy could be more than positive. Let’s stop dreaming and come back down to earth. What happened to the Canonico family and to some Rossoneri players could be a limiting factor. The social emergency in the Foggia area is no mystery. People are hungry and there are no jobs. Is Foggia hell? Zaccheria was certainly the terror of many players.
