Francesco Facchinetti intervened at the microphones of New York in the podcast Portraits of Claudio Brachino, telling a personal and professional path that crosses different worlds – from show to football, to international entrepreneurship – but which preserves a deep coherence: the ability to reinvent itself without losing its visionary push. His bond with America, born in the imagination of the 1980s, remains today a concrete engine of his work.
“The eye of a son of the eighties towards America can only be that of a dreamer”, he explained, evoking an imaginary built between cinema and television. “For us grown up with Ghostbusters, I Goonies, Back to the Future, America has always been the place to accomplish something.”.
A dream that has become a direct experience: “The first time I went to 20 years and there I realized that the same idea, conceived in New York, has a greater amplification.”.
Since then, long stays and concrete design: “In New York I began to develop ideas, even for Italy, but with a different power”.
Today the United States remains central also on the professional level. He is a successful agent, both in sports and in the entertainment world: “The coming months are important: there are the World Championships, which for us prosecutors represent a central moment, and in November I will take the Poohs on tour of the East Coast, between the United States and Canada. They are projects that allow me to continue to dream”.
And then the most intimate side of the relationship with an iconic city in the United States, New York: “The thing I love most is walking. Put your headphones, listen to Frank Sinatra, leave Central Park and get down to Union Square. Meanwhile, think, images, develop ideas».
Precisely Sinatra and “My Way” are a key to reading its path. “It’s your way,” he said, explaining how that philosophy has accompanied him in his transformations. «In my life I have always tried to do things my way, even changing skin when needed».
A change that has also brought him to the world of football, where he is currently acting as a FIFA licensed attorney. “It is an extremely regulated environment. You need to study a manual of about 700 pages in English, take an exam and only afterwards you can represent the players. It is very different from the entertainment world, where there is no license to be a manager. In football yes: you must be enabled to go, for example, to Chelsea or Arsenal and propose a player. It’s a bit like being a financial broker”.
Above all, the world of football, unlike the world of entertainment, is a world where discretion counts: «In football less you speak, the better it is». A concept learned in the field: “The first important operation I did, the intermediation of Gallagher from Chelsea to Atletico Madrid, I told her enthusiastically. I published a photo on social media and chaos unleashed: envy, problems, regulations. From there I understood: less speak, better work”.
Within the international structure Epic Sports, founded by Ali Barat, Facchinetti works on high-level operations but with a precise philosophy: “Less is more. Less players, but better worked”. His focus is on young Italians: “We have boys in the national Under 17, Under 18, Under 19. My goal is to give them a true growth path.”.
And it is precisely on young people who come up with one of the best reflections. “The problem is not technical or tactical. It’s resilience. A Swedish, Croatian or Senegalese boy has more ability to suffer.” According to Facchinetti, the Italian context too protected penalizes growth: «Go play Leeds, where it always rains and there is fog. The foreign player does not think about it, our effort more». Hence the need for a cultural change: «We must teach the boys to resist, to grow through difficulties».
The system of youth sectors also ends under its critical lens. “The problem is that you want to win, but that is not the priority. The priority is to grow players. Today lacks technique. The attackers no longer know how to protect the ball, the defenders can’t mark, because no one teaches it anymore”.
There is a data is emblematic: “On 100 players of the Weight 20, only one arrives in Serie A. It is a system that must be reconsidered”. In this context, families also have a decisive role: « Parents must trust and trust professionals. If your son has a health problem go to the best doctor, why do you think you know more about coaches or sports directors in football? ».
From football to the world of entertainment and media, where change over the past appears as radical. “Today a talent has its broadcast. Who is born in the digital already has his television, his personal network”.
A revolution that has overturned the relations of strength: “We couldn’t say no to TV. Today the talents can do it, because they earn more with the digital”. But television remains a complex ground: «In some cases it risks to expose that magic that works best in digital».
A concrete example is that of influencers: «In digital you build your narrative. On television you are exposed”. For this reason many choose with caution: «Television takes more than it gives you, if you cannot use it».
According to Francesco Facchinetti “TV will focus more and more on the great events, Sanremo, the Worlds, the global events. The web instead acquired a very strong perception of truth, perhaps too much. Today, if I see a product promoted by an influencer, I trust more than a television commercial. This is change.”.
Finally, personal space. “I’ve never felt like an artist. I have always felt one who does things.” Today his role has changed: “I am more backstage than on stage”. A conscious choice: “I only use my presence when it can serve to support the talents I work with. If I expose myself in person I can be useful in a project, I do. Otherwise I prefer to work behind the scenes”.
A path that tells a continuous transformation, but also a deep coherence: “I have always tried to do things my way.”.
And perhaps this is the figure of Francesco Facchinetti: the ability to cross different worlds without stopping to imagine the next.
The article Francesco Facchinetti and the new life as an agent, between football and show: “In November I will bring the Poohs to America” comes from IlNewyorkese.
