A better tomorrow won’t come about just through hope, but from planning ahead — that was the overriding message at Expo 2020 Dubai, held under the banner “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. The first universal exposition ever to be hosted in a Middle Eastern country came to an end on 31 March, after attracting more than 24 million visitors from 178 different countries to the United Arab Emirates over the course of six months.
The Expo has long been where innovators and visionaries map out their plans for the future. It was there that the first telephones, lifts, typing machines and robots were put on display. It was there that the cinematography of the Lumière brothers was first widely experienced; where the modern architectural landscape was built, with monuments such as the Eiffel Tower and the Atomium in Brussels were first previewed; and where we savoured new culinary innovations such as popcorn, tomato sauce and the ice-cream cone. Quite frankly, the universal exposition is the perfect example of how past and future can come together in harmony — not by sacrificing heritage but by building on it, brick by brick.
At a period in time where people are still getting their fill of experiencing live sport in person after a long absence, it’s no surprise that the sport featured heavily at this year’s Expo. The beautiful game’s ability to bring sports fans together has become more powerful than ever, especially for a club such as AC Milan, a team that has more than half a billion fans worldwide.
Three Rossoneri delegations travelled to Dubai for the Expo; a wide-ranging group of professionals – from Milan legends to those shaping the club’s future. Last November, AC Milan brand ambassador and Scudetto, European Cup- and World Cup-winning striker Daniele Massaro visited the Expo to watch Milan’s Champions League game against Porto among an intimate 200 fans in the first edition of “From Milan to Many: Watch Parties”.
In March this year, technical director and Milan icon Paolo Maldini, head coach Stefano Pioli and first-team players Brahim Díaz and Fikayo Tomori met with the local fanbase and held a special training session with players from the AC Milan Academy, hosting around 1,000 children between the ages of six and 14. After the training session, they made their way to the Festival Garden for a bumper Q&A session with 1,500 supporters.
Finally, a delegation headed by the club’s CEO, Ivan Gazidis, flew to Dubai to reinforce the AC Milan brand at a global level and visited the club’s local sponsors. Gazidis was also the keynote speaker at one of the Expo’s highlight round tables, “The Future of Football and its Role in Society: the Importance of a New Generation of Sustainable Stadiums”. The talk focused on the fundamental role sustainable architecture plays in modern cities, and the way modern stadia can support both the future of football and the cities in which they’re based. With Milan’s new, upcoming Cathedral stadium centred on sustainable innovation, there aren’t many people better placed to lead the discussion.
This spirit of innovation is one of the central values that all of AC Milan’s partners in the UAE share with the club. The UAE is a huge deal for the Rossoneri — they have a local fanbase of 2.5 million supporters and were, in the first half of the current season, the most followed Italian club in the country. While at the Expo, the club also strengthened its partnerships with particularly forward-thinking brands, such as Jeeny in the transport sector, and SIRO, which aims to revolutionise the concept of hospitality for elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts and many more.
One long-standing Rossoneri link is with Emirates. An AC Milan partner since 2007, the airline had its own pavilion in the Expo exhibition space for the entire event, showing visitors a glimpse into the future of commercial air travel in 2071 and exploring the challenges in science and technology that the industry will face in the next 50 years.
This approach ideally fits with a club that’s constantly looking towards the future. It’s certainly the way things are going on the pitch, as the club seeks to invest in developing young players, but there has also been significant investment in new initiatives and projects off the grass. The Studios: Milan Media House, for instance, is the club’s new self-owned media hub, while fresh partnerships with companies including Sony, Apple, Google and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation open up more possibilities for coverage on all things AC Milan.
The Rossoneri’s attention to growing the club as a whole has been reflected in YouGov’s FootballIndex. The study, which continuously judges public perception of global football clubs, found AC Milan to be the strongest brand in Italian football, as well as the strongest Italian football brand in newer markets such as China and the USA.
This public perception has been reinforced by real financial results, as the club ended the first quarter of 2021/22 in profit and looks set to halve its losses compared to the close of 2020/21. The club isn’t resting on its laurels, either, having entered into 28 new partnerships over the last two years, including recent deals with innovative brands such as Konami, SENEC and Wefox.
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