Carlo Rivetti: Modena, Stone Island and Serie A

Carlo Rivetti is living every football fan’s dream. Across almost three decades as owner/creative director/spiritual leader of Stone Island, he amassed a clean fortune when he sold 70% of the company to Moncler in 2020 for around £770m ($980m).

What one does with such an amount of money must be a great conundrum to have, unless you are a lifelong football fan, and your local team is in poor health. Three years after Modena declared bankruptcy and reformed in Serie D, Rivetti bought the club just as they failed in the Serie C playoffs in May 2021.

Stone Island is synonymous with football but perhaps not for the reasons it would like. Rivetti has decided to forge a different footballing path for himself and, in turn, for Modena as a ‘brand’. 

For us, flying is not a dream but a necessity.

The city of Modena punches above its weight on most fronts. It finds itself in Italy’s ‘Motor Valley’, where Ferrari, Lamborghini, Ducati and Maserati were born and still operate, the latter of which is headquartered in Modena itself. Aceto Balsamico di Modena PGI produce 100 million litres of balsamic vinegar each year and one of the world’s greatest chefs, Massimo Bottura, creates culinary masterpieces in the city at his restaurant, Osteria Francescana. 

The new crest featured a singing canary, a nod to the club’s nickname ‘i Canarini' (The Canaries), and created a new typeface for all club communications, named Modena Sans. 

When it comes to football, it suffers much like most Italian provincial cities. Two decades outside of Serie A, a bankruptcy in 2018 and facilities that could do with some TLC; and that’s where Rivetti comes in.

“For us, flying is not a dream but a necessity,” Rivetti told Gazzetta dello Sport in May 2022, having celebrated the first anniversary of his ownership with promotion to Serie B. Having spent the final month of the season refusing to shave his beard and demanding to drink in the same Piazza Grande bar before each match, he proved he was a fan; something that hasn’t always come naturally to football club owners, but he has also demonstrated considerable business nous.

CRSL were hired to re-brand the club, giving it a new, modern feel. The new crest featured a singing canary, a nod to the club’s nickname ‘i Canarini' (The Canaries), and created a new typeface for all club communications, named Modena Sans. 

While it may seem like a nepotism fuelled disaster waiting to happen, it tracks with the youth-oriented approach that Modena have taken since 2021.

Trendy stuff, the sort of thing you associate with premium brands, rather than second tier Italian football clubs. The Stone Island Effect. Modena’s statement announcing Rivetti’s purchase of the club confirmed that this is a “personal project, not a manufacturing manoeuvre”, which is bad news if you were hoping for a Modena jersey that would allow you to Get The Badge In. That’s a Stone Island reference for those who are not perennially online.

Modena’s new identity translated into a 10th place finish under Attilio Tesser last season, at which point Rivetti opted to go in a different direction. Paolo Bianco, the ex-Catania and Sassuolo defender fresh from several years working with De Zerbi and Allegri but, perhaps crucially, not yet a head coach.

Rivetti admitted to hiring Bianco “on the fly”, the result of a few meetings with someone that he noted is friends with his son. While it may seem like a nepotism fuelled disaster waiting to happen, it tracks with the youth-oriented approach that Modena have taken since 2021.

The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly, which has impinged upon Modena’s future planning.

Invest in the youth facilities, sign young players for the first team and chase that semi-attainable dream of sustainability. Modern football requires clubs like Modena to choose; survive through the mercy of a multi-millionaire with an open cheque book that could close any time or take the Atalanta route and build your own conveyor belt of talented teenagers to be sold on for profit. 

Rivetti, obviously, would rather his Modena grow to become the latter, but he must flash a little of the former to achieve that. Along with the youth facilities, they have secured a further six-year lease of Alberto Braglia, the stadium, from the local authority, which comes with its own complexities. 

Rivetti has bemoaned the much-documented bureaucracy that Italy’s public sector has almost crippled progress in football clubs that do not own their own stadium, i.e. the vast majority. 

The wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly, which has impinged upon Modena’s future planning. Minimal progress with the stadium and training facilities, but that is just a fact of calcio life, rather than a case specific to Modena.

However, it would be ignorant to state that Rivetti’s impact at the club has been anything but positive. After all, they played only two of the last sixty years in Serie A and treated Serie C as a second home for almost half of that period. 

It might not be this season, but his ambition is infectious, and his vision is long term, and he has money.

This year, with an improved chemical concoction of youth and experience, Modena are pushing for the playoffs. Only one win in thirteen league games seems worrying, but this is Serie B, Italy’s madhouse league. Only nine points separated playoffs and relegation last season, and it should be even closer this year. A draw is accepted currency, and a win is a luxury.

For Rivetti, this club is a project. Last May, after missing the playoffs, he spoke of a “project phase” for Modena at an end of season dinner with fans, during which the club would build foundations to set them up for long term success. “I don't want to be like Cremonese, who went to Serie A and then came back down," he said.

While Cremonese may have returned to Serie B, they did get that much coveted promotion, and look like going back up again if they can keep up results like they had at Modena the past weekend, where a 95th minute goal from Matteo Bianchetti gave them a crucial 1-0 win. Six wins and three draws since Christmas, while Modena’s only win came in a derby against Parma. 

Rivetti had a point about Cremonese and the fact that promotion fails to solve everything in the way some might imagine. Just ask Benevento, Crotone, Pescara, Carpi, and so on, but you have to get there somehow. It might not be this season, but his ambition is infectious, and his vision is long term, and he has money. That seems like a winning combination, a slow and steady one that Modena will hope sets them up for real success.