Parts of football shaken
FIFA boss Infantino mourns the loss of “visionary” Berlusconi
6/12/2023, 6:23 p.m
Silvio Berlusconi is dead. Worldwide sympathy is great. The politician has also left his mark on football and even made some people love the game. That’s what FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in his tribute. His former clubs are also mourning.
FIFA boss Gianni Infantino paid tribute to the late Silvio Berlusconi. “Many thought he was a visionary and they were right,” Infantino wrote on social media: “When it comes to football, he foresaw everything long before anyone else. Thank you for making us love this incredible game.” The death of the entrepreneur and politician was also mourned in Italian football. Among others, the first division club AC Monza remembered Berlusconi, who took over the club in 2018 and led it to Serie A for the first time.
“Forever with us: manager Adriano Galliani and all of Monza mourn,” said the Lombard club’s website: “He leaves a void that can never be filled. Thank you for everything, Mr. President.” Galliani, the TV tsar’s right-hand man in the football business for decades, was “stunned and speechless”. “I mourn the loss of a friend, the man who changed my life for over 43 years. Rest in peace dear President,” Galliani wrote.
Fans gather at residence
AC Milan, who managed Berlusconi from 1986 to 2017, also sent condolences to the family and mourned the “unforgettable” Berlusconi. Several football professionals and also Milan’s ex-coach Arrigo Sacchi also expressed their condolences.
“Despite his illness, I didn’t expect his death,” said Sacchi, who coached Milan from 1987 to 1991 and in the 1996/1997 season: “I’m losing a brilliant friend to whom I owe everything. Berlusconi was a generous person who tried to change Italy.” Milan icon Paolo Maldini wrote on Instagram: “We are losing a genius, a visionary dreamer and above all a friend who changed the history of our Italy.”
Hundreds of Milan and Monza fans gathered in front of Berlusconi’s residence in Arcore and laid flowers in front of the entrance. Berlusconi’s body is laid out in a studio of his TV group Mediaset in Cologno Monzese near Milan on Tuesday. Thousands are expected to say goodbye. A state funeral in the presence of President Sergio Mattarella is planned for Wednesday in Milan Cathedral.
Filippo Galli, Milan defender from 1983 to 1996, demanded that the club’s new stadium to be built in Milan be named after Berlusconi. Berlusconi died on Monday at the age of 86. He was Italy’s prime minister four times, and his populist style even had its own name in Italy as “Berlusconism.” Berlusconi was also controversial in football, but highly successful.