On today's episode of the Sports Pundit Podcast, we're joined by Carolina Chiappero, Innovation Manager at Juventus.
Carolina traces her path from opening Juventus soccer schools around the world and managing the academy project's international development to leading the club's innovation function - a role she raised her hand for after working on projects beyond football, from food formats to a travel business. She shares her definition of innovation: anything that makes the club work better or creates new value. That makes innovation a cross-functional activity at a club that operates as a proper corporate, and makes her an enabler and translator between departments - identifying internal needs through assessment and discussion, scouting outside for solutions, and testing them with internal champions.
She then unpacks Juventus Forward, the club's external-facing innovation programme, and its "squad" of startups running 12-month pilots built for adoption, not pilots for their own sake. Batch after batch, more departments are getting involved - from performance and digital marketing to facility management and communication - and the value is stacking up in layers: the brand attracting technology at net-zero cost, each pilot generating time savings, cost optimisation or new revenue, and a next step of partnership-driven innovation, where startups can serve club partners too and innovation becomes activation.
The conversation also covers where Carolina looks for inspiration - the UEFA innovation hub, Italian sport-tech accelerator BitnMatch, and Politecnico di Milano's Open Innovation Observatory - and why being first in the Italian market meant looking beyond football and beyond sport altogether. It closes with Juventus Forward's new squad announcement, which has since been made on stage at Wave by Vento, formerly known as Italian Tech Week.
Timestamps
01:00 - Carol’s Juventus Journey
05:00 - Finding Innovation Mentors
08:00 - Defining the Role of Innovation within a Football Club
12:30 - What is Juventus Forward and Why Does it Exist?
15:00 - How Pilots Get Adopted Across the Organisation
19:00 - Innovation as Commercial Engine (The Revenue Opportunity)
24:30 - Roadmap and Next Steps
About The Host
Andy Marston is the founder of Sports Pundit, a community and media platform for sports and technology executives. Through a weekly newsletter, podcast network, lively group chat, and regular social events, he shares industry analysis and connects leaders across the sector. Alongside Sports Pundit, Andy leads Corporate Venture at athlete-backed venture firm, The Players Fund, where he works with high-profile sports IP such as Como 1907 to design venture strategies and drive innovation initiatives.
About Sports Pundit
Sports Pundit is a community-driven platform for executives working in sport, built around content, events, and conversation. Through its weekly newsletter, social channels, WhatsApp groups, and podcast network, it connects industry leaders across the globe.
At the heart of the platform is the Sports Pundit Podcast, The Sports Pundit Podcast Network is a multi-show platform designed for sports executives, by sports executives. The network includes interview shows with decision makers across the industry, special domain-specific series on areas like investment and innovation, and The Pitch, a conversational companion show discussing big ideas.
Together, they deliver insider perspectives that live up to Sports Pundit’s mission to be “The Voice of the Sports Industry.”
