MONACO – Thiago Scuro, CEO of Ligue 1 club AS Monaco, speaks during a press conference in Monaco
AS Monaco
AS Monaco, the soccer club founded in 1924 in the homonymous principality and competing in France’s Ligue 1, are about to celebrate 100 years of history.
A few weeks into this special season, which also marks their return to the grand stage of the UEFA Champions League, I had the pleasure to interview AS Monaco’s CEO Thiago Scuro, who opened up about the club’s goals, challenges and long-term vision.
A Brazil native with large experience as a sporting director in South America, Scuro, 42, unveiled some of the ingredients that make Les Monégasques one of Europe’s most peculiar soccer sides and discussed the strategy behind their phenomenal player development, as they are widely renowned for having produced world-class talents like Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet.
MONACO, MONACO – SEPTEMBER 19: Folarin Balogun and George Ilenikhena of AS Monaco celebrates 2nd … [+] goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD1 match between AS Monaco and FC Barcelona at Stade Louis II on September 19, 2024 in Monaco, Monaco. (Photo by Neal Simpson/Allstar/Getty Images)
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Daniele Proch: As a CEO with wide experience in the soccer industry, what’s the most important factor with which you measure success at a club?
Thiago Scuro: The core business of this industry is football (soccer). So for me, the best way to measure success is the sporting project. Then, around the sporting project — and by that I don’t only mean the first team but also the academy — we develop the business side.
It’s the success inside the pitch that triggers all the areas around, those things cannot be disconnected from each other. So, if you’re consistently at the top of the table, if you are developing new players, or if you qualify to the UEFA Champions League every year, these achievements naturally drive revenue.
Proch: What key lesson(s) have you drawn from your previous experience as a club executive that you are now trying to implement at AS Monaco?
Scuro: The importance of working toward a mid-term perspective. In Brazil, that’s not always easy to implement because the soccer project often belongs to the coach, not to the sporting directors. But in Monaco, this is the kind of organization our president Dmitry Rybolovlev believes in. We can see that in many things, such as the €55 million investment the ownership made in 2021 to build the state-of-the-art sports complex where the first team currently trains.
A photograph shows an outside view of the Performance Center, the new training center of the AS … [+] Monaco football club, on its inauguration day in La Turbie, southeastern France, on September 5, 2022. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP) (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
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Proch: What kind of plan have you been trying to execute at AS Monaco since being appointed CEO in October 2023?
Scuro: We have mainly focused on two areas: the sports side and the business side. As far as running the soccer operations, we focused on reducing the squad’s average age and signing players with high ambitions, those who see AS Monaco as a stepping stone to launch their career, not the final destination. We also invested more in the Academy and brought Groupe Élite (AS Monaco’s U-19 team) closer to the first team by making them train next to one another.
On the business side, we focused on being much more open to the market. Our commercial department invested a lot in the relationships with sponsors: We were able to extend most of our contracts from last season and in addition, we attracted nine more sponsors. We also struck our first sponsorship agreement in South America alongside already existing deals in Japan, Africa and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) area.
Proch: Two-thirds of the club is controlled by president Dmitry Rybolovlev’s Monaco Sport Investment LTD, while House of Grimaldi, the reigning house of the Principality of Monaco, holds the remaining 33% of the stakes. Can you speak about the club’s relationship with the Prince?
Scuro: Before being a stakeholder in the club, the Prince is the number one fan of AS Monaco. He comes to our games and supports the team. As our president Rybolovlev always says, we represent the Principality of Monaco and have the responsibility to carry all the values of the Principality and share them with the players, who need to understand how special it is to play for this team. On top of that, our president and the Prince have a great relationship.
AS Monaco´s Russian president Dmitry Rybolovlev (C), his daughter Ekaterina Rybolovleva (2-L) and … [+] Prince Albert II of Monaco (R) celebrate after winning the UEFA Champions League 1st round day 1 football match between AS Monaco and FC Barcelona at the Louis II Stadium in the Principality of Monaco on September 19, 2024. (Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP) (Photo by MIGUEL MEDINA/AFP via Getty Images)
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Proch: What is AS Monaco’s business model mostly reliant on today?
Scuro: Broadcasting rights remain the biggest source of revenue, a figure that inflates especially in the years that we play in the UEFA Champions League. Our sponsors and partners grew 15% from last season to this one, partially thanks to the nine new deals I mentioned before. Then, a big chunk of our revenue comes from player trading.
Proch: A CIES Football Observatory research found that AS Monaco recorded the highest amount of earnings when it came to selling players to teams in Europe’s top-5 leagues, cashing in €1.2 billion in transfer fees during the 10-year period from 2013 to 2022. AS Monaco are renowned for scouting world-class talents and increasing their market value before selling them to Europe’s powerhouses for astronomical fees, where these young players have often moved on to become legendary footballers. So what’s the secret behind the club’s successful talent scout strategy?
Scuro: Recruiting starts when players are 8 years old. We have 25 scouts, half of whom work in France and the other half are scattered abroad, but it’s all connected into one big system. However, recruiting isn’t the hardest part: development is.
Developing our own players is key to reducing the risk that comes with player trading. Because we have to accept the fact that our best players will eventually be acquired by wealthier clubs, when that happens, we strive to replace that player with someone from inside our AS Monaco system rather than having to buy them from some other team.
From a business standpoint, the ideal scenario is to sign a player to a five-year deal, develop his sports performances and sell him after the third year. This way, you’re able to monetize at the peak of this player’s market value.
Proch: What is one specific goal you would like to achieve at AS Monaco?
Scuro: Within the next three years, we would like to have 50% of the first-team roster made up from players coming from our Academy, on which we invest more than €10 million a year. To meet that number, we need to pay increasingly more attention to the youth sector and the Groupe Elite.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 21: Kylian Mbappe of AS Monaco celebrates as he scores their second … [+] goal during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg match between Manchester City FC and AS Monaco at Etihad Stadium on February 21, 2017 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
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Proch: This season is truly special for AS Monaco. Not only are they celebrating their centenary, but they are back in the UEFA Champions League after failing to qualify for this competition for six consecutive years. Can you speak about its importance in terms of sporting prestige as well as the impact it has on the club’s finances considering it’s the world’s most lucrative soccer tournament?
Scuro: We have a great history in the UEFA Champions League, as shown by our run to the semi-finals in 2017 and to the final in 2004. The competition raises the profile of the club, and that’s why we’re delighted to be back for this edition, which coincides with an attractive new format. We got off to a very good start with a 2-1 win over Barcelona and we aim to qualify for the play-off phase.
In the longer term, our aim is obviously to take part in the UEFA Champions League on a regular basis, because it’s a competition that generates direct income through television rights as well as indirect income through sponsors, merchandising and ticketing.
Proch: AS Monaco are celebrating their 100th year of history on the occasion of Saturday’s Ligue 1 home game against Montpellier HSC. What’s in store for that special day?
Scuro: There will be a full house. Over 50 AS Monaco legends will attend the event, including former players Jean-Luc Ettori, Delio Onnis, Eric Abidal and Emmanuel Petit as well as former head coach Arsene Wenger. We have published a book recollecting our 100 years of history, but we have also prepared many activities to entertain fans in the stadium on matchday. For instance, we will show a video with first-person accounts from club legends Kylian Mbappé, Falcao and Didier Deschamps. It’s an opportunity to honor those who made history at the club as well as celebrate how iconic AS Monaco football club is.
The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Publish date : 2024-09-27 08:19:00
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