Early career In 1978, at age 21, Marotta began his career in
football when he was appointed as
Director of Youth Department for his hometown club
Varese. Just one year later, Marotta was promoted to
general manager (GM) () of Varese and in his first season in charge saw his team promoted back to
Serie B. With Marotta as GM, Varese would spend five consecutive seasons in Serie B. However, Marotta's final two seasons at Varese saw the club twice relegated, falling down to
Serie C2 after the
1985–86 season. After leaving Varese, Marotta was appointed GM of
Serie C1 club
Monza. In his first season as GM, Marotta hired
head coach Walter Novellino, the same coach who in 1998 had guided Venezia back to Serie A under Marotta. Together, and with new money at their disposal, Marotta and Novellino revamped the Sampdoria squad in the 2002 transfer window, adding both experienced Serie A veterans, such as
Massimo Paganin,
Sergio Volpi,
Fabio Bazzani, and
Stefano Bettarini, alongside several promising young players, such as
Angelo Palombo,
Maurizio Domizzi and
Andrea Gasbarroni. This overhaul proved successful as Novellino guided Sampdoria to a second-place finish in the
2002–03 season, earning the club promotion back to Serie A, as well as a quarter-final finish in the
Coppa Italia. In
2003–04, with the additions of
Cristiano Doni and
Francesco Antonioli seeing Sampdoria finished in eighth place, just missing out on
UEFA Cup qualification. Paratici worked very closely under the guidance of Marotta, often being described as his "right-hand man". The
2004–05 season saw Sampdoria finish in sixth place, missing the
UEFA Champions League qualification by just one point. Nevertheless, Sampdoria qualified for the UEFA Cup, marking the first time one of Marotta's teams had qualified for European competition. The 2005–06 and 2006–07 seasons saw the club finish 12th and 9th respectively. Following the disappointing 2006–07 season, Marotta replaced manager Walter Novellino with
Walter Mazzarri. The 2007 transfer season also saw Marotta bring in the controversial Italian forward
Antonio Cassano on a year-long loan from
Real Madrid with the option to purchase the player. The
2007–08 season saw the club finish in sixth place to again qualify for the UEFA Cup. Cassano joined the team permanently after the season ended, with the addition of highly regarded
Giampaolo Pazzini from
Fiorentina for a fee of
€9 million in January 2009. However, Sampdoria struggled in the
2008–09 season, finishing in 13th place in Serie A, leading Marotta decided not to renew the expiring contract of head coach Walter Mazzarri. After dismissing Mazzarri, Marotta hired head coach
Luigi Delneri, himself coming off two successful seasons at Atalanta, for the
2009–10 season.
Juventus In May 2010, Marotta was officially brought to Juventus by newly elected club chairman
Andrea Agnelli as GM for the Sports Area () with a three-year contract, replacing
Jean-Claude Blanc (who retained the role of chairman and CEO until October 2010). Juventus had just finished the season in seventh place, their worst since returning to Serie A after the
Calciopoli scandal. In his move from Sampdoria to Juventus, Marotta also brought along head of scouting
Fabio Paratici and
head coach Luigi Delneri. Aldo Mazzia, however was appointed
chief financial officer (CFO) and CEO of the club in April and in May 2011 respectively. Similar to his first transfer window upon taking over at Sampdoria, Marotta spent the first year in charge of transfer operations at Juventus making wholesale changes to the squad, acquiring 14 new players, including
Miloš Krasić,
Fabio Quagliarella,
Alessandro Matri and
Alberto Aquilani;) while offloading 11 players, including club legend
David Trezeguet and Brazilian playmaker
Diego, moves which were unpopular with fans. Juventus finished the
2010–11 season in seventh place, missing out again on Champions League football and also having failed to advance past the group stages of the
2010–11 UEFA Europa League. Following the disappointing season, Marotta and the club announced manager Luigi Delneri would not be returning for another season. On 31 May 2011, Marotta announced the appointment of former Juventus player and captain
Antonio Conte as head coach. Conte's appointment was met with some skepticism due to his inexperience in top-flight football. Marotta stated in an interview with
Corriere dello Sport that the club's objectives for the new season were to win the
Scudetto or at least qualify for the Champions League. During the
2011–12 summer transfer window, Marotta set about to improve last years finish by bringing in eight new players to the squad, including
Andrea Pirlo and
Michele Pazienza on
free transfers, along with
Stephan Lichtsteiner,
Arturo Vidal,
Mirko Vučinić,
Emanuele Giaccherini,
Marcelo Estigarribia and
Eljero Elia. On 31 October 2018, Marotta officially terminated his contract as Juventus CEO.
Inter Milan On 13 December 2018, Marotta officially joined Inter Milan as sporting CEO. Inter have won several trophies since, including the Scudetto in
2021 and
2024, two
Coppa Italia finals
2022 and
2023, and three
Supercoppa Italiana titles in
2021,
2022 and
2023. They also made it to the finals of the
UEFA Europa League in 2020 and the
UEFA Champions League in 2023 and 2025, although losing to
Sevilla,
Manchester City and
Paris Saint-Germain respectively. Before he joined, Inter went through a ten-year trophy drought and under his leadership, Inter has signed the likes of
Antonio Conte and
Simone Inzaghi to coach the club.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan,
Romelu Lukaku,
Achraf Hakimi,
Nicolò Barella,
Christian Eriksen,
Andre Onana,
Hakan Çalhanoğlu,
Matteo Darmian,
Edin Džeko,
Marcus Thuram and
Alexis Sánchez are some of his notable signings at the club, with many of these players contributing to Inter's recent success. On 4 June 2024, following the demise of previous owners
Suning Holdings Group and the acquisition of the club by
Oaktree Capital Management, Marotta became President and Sporting CEO of the club following a shareholders' meeting. == References ==