Juventus appointed Giovanni Carnevali as the new chief executive officer and general manager
On June 12, 2026, Juventus confirmed a major change at the top of the club: Giovanni Carnevali was appointed chief executive officer and general manager of the Turin giant. According to Juventus's official announcement, the Board of Directors entrusted him with the overall management of the company with the aim of further strengthening the club's sporting and industrial project. This marks the beginning of a new period in Juventus's management structure, following the departure of Damien Comolli, who ended his mandate at the club on the same day. The official statement says that Comolli submitted his resignation with immediate effect, while Juventus states in a separate announcement that his departure was agreed by mutual consent. The change comes at a delicate moment for a club that must simultaneously deal with the sporting consequences of a weaker season, maintain financial discipline and rebuild confidence in the long-term direction of the project.
Carnevali arrives in Turin with a reputation as one of the most experienced Italian football operators. In its official biography, Juventus describes him as a manager with more than 40 years of experience in sports management, marketing and business development. The largest part of his recent reputation is linked to Sassuolo, where from 2014 he held the position of chief executive officer and general manager. During that period, the club from Emilia-Romagna, according to Juventus's assessment, became recognizable for sustainability, talent development, innovation and the creation of value on and off the pitch. For Juventus, this is an important message: after several years of sporting and financial turbulence, the club is looking for a model that will not rest only on short-term reactions, but on a more stable organization and a clearer allocation of responsibilities.
Comolli's departure after one year at the club
Damien Comolli joined Juventus in June 2025, and in November of the same year he was appointed chief executive officer. According to the club's official announcement from November 2025, his previous role as general manager ended at the same time, and he was granted executive powers in continuity with the existing management structure. His mandate nevertheless ended already on June 12, 2026, which means that he spent about one year at the club, and a little more than seven months in the role of chief executive officer. In the statement on his departure, Juventus did not give detailed reasons for the separation, but thanked Comolli for his commitment and contribution. Comolli himself, in a message conveyed by the club, thanked John Elkann, Exor, colleagues at Juventus and the fans, with wishes of success for the men's and women's teams in the next season.
Although the official text does not directly connect the resignation with the results of the first team, the sporting context is difficult to separate from the decision. According to the final Serie A 2025/26 table published by Sporting Life based on Opta data, Juventus finished the season in sixth place with 69 points, behind Inter, Napoli, Roma, Como and Milan. UEFA, in the club profile for the 2026/27 season, lists Juventus among the participants in the Europa League, confirming that the Turin club did not qualify for the Champions League for the new European period. For a club of Juventus's profile, this is a sporting blow, but also a business challenge because the Champions League brings significantly higher revenue, stronger market reach and a more attractive framework for signing players. That is precisely why Carnevali's appointment is not just a personnel change, but also a signal that Turin wants to re-establish the balance between ambition and sustainability.
What Carnevali's profile brings
Carnevali is not the type of director who is tied exclusively to the football pitch. According to the official biography on Juventus's website, in 1996 he founded Master Group Sport, an organization connected with sports marketing and the organization of major national and international events. Such experience gives him a broader business framework than that of a typical sporting director, and Juventus has now entrusted him with a dual role that includes both the operational management of the company and strategic oversight of the sporting direction. In the official announcement, the club emphasizes that Carnevali brings knowledge of modern football, institutional relations and the management of complex organizations. This is important because Juventus, as a club listed on the stock exchange and under strong market supervision, must make decisions that have sporting, financial and reputational consequences.
His period at Sassuolo is particularly important. That club did not have the resources of the biggest Italian clubs, but for years it tried to build an identity through player development, sales with added value and a recognizable management model. In its official presentation, Juventus emphasizes that Carnevali played a key role in the growth and consolidation of Sassuolo and that the club became a reference point for sustainability and talent development. Such a description is not only a biographical note, but also an explanation of why the choice fell precisely on him. Juventus needs to increase the quality of the team, but it must do so in circumstances in which the room for expensive mistakes is shrinking.
In Juventus's current management team, according to the club's leadership list, Marco Ottolini holds the role of sporting director, Giorgio Chiellini leads football strategy, and François Modesto is the technical director. Carnevali's arrival therefore does not necessarily mean the concentration of all sporting decisions in one person, but the establishment of a leadership summit that must align market moves, player development, financial limits and long-term strategy. For a club that has often changed management models in recent seasons, continuity will be just as important as individual decisions in the transfer window. In practice, this means that the first impression of the new director will be formed through his ability to connect different departments, define priorities and reduce the impression of improvisation that often appears after major sporting disappointments.
Financial discipline remains the key phrase
Juventus's business picture in recent years shows why club statements increasingly speak of sustainable growth. After the shareholders' meeting in November 2025, ANSA reported that Juventus approved the financial statements for the financial year ended June 30, 2025, with a loss of 58.1 million euros, which is significantly less than the 199.2 million euros loss from the previous year. According to the same report, the reduction in the loss was primarily linked to the return of the first men's team to the Champions League and higher income from players' rights. That comparison clearly shows how much the European result affects the club's economy. If the Champions League is absent, the pressure shifts to other sources of revenue, more rational wages, more efficient transfers and better valorization of the existing squad.
It is precisely in this space that Carnevali must find a balance. He will not be expected only to cut costs, because Juventus must still be competitive in Serie A and European competitions. But every rebuilding of the team will have to be linked to a clear assessment of player value, contract duration and the possibility of future sales. Sassuolo's model cannot be literally copied onto Juventus, because the ambitions, expectations and pressure from the public are completely different. Still, the experience of working in a club that had to manage resources carefully can be useful in a phase in which Juventus wants to remain a major sporting project, but without repeating the financial imbalances that marked part of the previous period.
The majority ownership framework also plays an important role in everything. According to ANSA's report, John Elkann told the shareholders' meeting in November 2025 that Exor remains fully committed to Juventus and that the priority is to combine solid sporting results with financial discipline. Such a message now gains new weight because Carnevali is taking over the club at a moment when the sporting goal of returning to the Champions League must be aligned with responsible business operations. In modern football, these are no longer separate goals: the result on the pitch directly affects revenues, but financial stability determines how long a competitive team can be maintained.
First tasks in Turin
The most immediate task of the new chief executive officer will be to establish a credible plan for the 2026/27 season. Juventus must determine which players it considers the backbone of the project, which contracts should be extended or reassessed, where the priorities are in the transfer window and how much can be invested without undermining financial goals. Cooperation with the existing sporting structures will be important in this, as will clear communication toward the market and the fans. A club that defined itself for years by winning trophies and playing in the Champions League cannot be satisfied with merely administering the existing situation. At the same time, overly quick and expensive decisions can make the recovery even more difficult, especially if they do not prove to be sporting successes.
In his first statement after the appointment, according to Juventus's official announcement, Carnevali emphasized his pride at joining a club with a rich history and strong identity and thanked the club, the majority shareholder and John Elkann for their trust. He particularly highlighted responsibility and the belief that a sustainable path of growth and a successful future can be built through daily work. Such wording fits into the broader message Juventus wants to send: the return to the top must not be understood only as a matter of one transfer window, but as a process that includes sporting, business and organizational renewal. In that sense, Carnevali's mandate will begin under intense public scrutiny, but also with a clear expectation that short-term solutions will be avoided.
For Juventus, it is especially important to restore a sense of direction. Failure in the fight for the Champions League does not mean only a missed season in the most elite European competition, but also a question of the identity of a club that was long considered one of the standards of Italian football. The return will not depend only on the names that will come into the dressing room, but on the quality of the system that will select, support and integrate them into the team. Carnevali therefore takes over the role at a moment when as much is demanded from the management as from the players: a clear hierarchy, precise decisions and the ability to turn sporting ambition into a sustainable business plan. The first months will show whether Juventus with its new leadership can turn the change at the top into the beginning of a more stable period.
Sources:
- Juventus Football Club – official announcement on the appointment of Giovanni Carnevali as chief executive officer and general manager (link)
- Juventus Football Club – official announcement on the end of Damien Comolli's tenure (link)
- Juventus Football Club – official biography of Giovanni Carnevali in the club leadership (link)
- Juventus Football Club – official list of governing bodies and members of the Board of Directors (link)
- U.S. Sassuolo Calcio – official club organization chart with Carnevali's role at Sassuolo (link)
- Sporting Life – final Serie A 2025/26 table with Juventus's ranking (link)
- UEFA – Juventus profile in the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League (link)
- ANSA – report on Juventus's 2025 financial statements and John Elkann's message on financial discipline (link)