Gerry Cardinale spoke about the untapped market that is the football fans in the US, with AC Milan looking to expand their horizons. As Luca Serfaini argues, the Rossoneri must first focus on the core business and then the rest will come as a bonus.
Milan have made tremendous progress off the pitch since Cardinale took over the club. On the pitch, however, some fans would argue that they have hit a stalemate: barely making top four in 2022/23 and finishing second by 19 points behind Inter in 2023/24 after the Scudetto in 2021/22.
Given how the Scudetto season played out, this must be taken with a pinch of salt but Milan clearly want to do better, hoping that Paulo Fonseca can jumpstart the new era. Having said that, Cardinale spoke about ‘550 million fans worldwide’, with an additional 50 million in the US that they ‘want to focus on’.
In his latest editorial for MilanNews, Luca Serafini touched on the matter and urged Milan to focus on the core business before getting carried away. Regardless of the number of fans worldwide, the Rossoneri need to put the money where their mouths are.
“Gerry Cardinale talks about 550 million Milan fans in the world. We need to distinguish between aficionados and supporters: the numbers will add up if you keep the enthusiasm of the former alive and create loyalty among the latter. In this sense, the transfer market and then the results make all the difference in the world. These are the numbers that count,” he wrote.
Let’s be real. Those numbers are made up. 550m fans globally? That’s one in every 12 ppl in the entire world. Even 50m in the States is a stretch (one in every 6ppl?????). That’s concerning coming from a “businessman” and u have to trust ppl to give u the right info. Smh 🤦♂️
Facts. Also I doubt very much even 50 million Americans are mens ⚽ fans, let alone Milanisti.
The more Gerry speaks, the less believable he is.
Living in the US and having my kid play the game for about 10 years o can say that most of the people on the sidelines didn’t know the game (including me).
Most we just Real, Barça, ManU, Juv parrots. As I got more into the game I quickly realized they knew the name of the club and maybe some superstar from the past.
50m fans of th game total on the US maybe. Of those maybe 10% who knows of ACM and maybe half of those it’s history.
well i have been supporting Milan since 02 and as a Nigerian i have not meet/shook hands with up to 12milan fans in the country for 12yrs. that number is hilarious 😂😂😂
i’m not saying there are no milan fans in my country but i’m saying you will see more premier league and spanish league fans on a ration of 10:1 before meeting with italian team supporters
forza milan out Cardinale
Same here. Milan seem like a relic of the past in our part of the world. As a Nigerian and Milan Fan, it is utterly disappointing that we are not doing well enough on the pitch so that we can join the main conversation with other fans especially PL fans. Heck, I have met more Liverpool and Man City fans than Milanistas in 9ja and that’s just crazy. We need to do better, Abeg.
I’m also from Nigeria and been supporting Milan since 2006, I’ve only met with one Milan supporter. Except the ones I meet online like you.
Even the PL clubs can’t boast of that enormous number of fans worldwide 😂 😂
I am a Milan fan since 1999, I am from Lagos and in my street we have a joint we hang out I know 9f about 20 milan fans, I can tell if Milan wins a champion league again most milan fans will come out of there shells, in 2007 i know of as many as 50 milan fans bt maybe some have joined other teams overtime, can i create a Milan fans base club for Nigerians. Anyone willing should signify so we can start that up.
Am also a Milan fan from Nigeria is 2002 and I have never seen any other ac Milan fan. I live in the south east of Nigerian, Enugu.
You guys should meet ahah kudos on the great music 🙏 check Tundey Bright, peace
Hey cokeboi, I am a Milan fan for 35yrs, a Nigerian. And I can tell you that the northern part of the country which’s the most populous in our country have far more Milan fans than any club in Europe. Besides, I stay in the FCT.
Maybe if you pay him (Cardinale) €2.5b I bet you he’s out of Milan.
Get real it’s all FOG and Gerry is strategic magician or businessman.
He is avoiding the real issue at the moment that will project AC Milan’s football season on pitch, the “Mercato”.
He is not prepared to spend what it takes to ensure Milan are on the same platform as Inter, Madrid, Man.City and so on. Shameful at the elite level of world football.
Supporters will will endure another season of heart ache wondering wishing and questioning the owner, management and the foundations of Rosso Nero!
Don’t listen him. He just broker. Clown colleting money from rich people. Stop watching ac milan if cardinale still there.
Cardinale out
Yeah we better watch the upcoming Joker: Folie ã Deux, starring board of director. You can laugh, sad, and angry at the same time like this.
Grow up.
Americans are manipulators
Yep, all of us.
Watch out, I’m doing it now.
LOL. And the filthy-rich Arabs are the best kind of people. So kind to everyone. Eeeeeveryone. Right?
Out of curiosity though… Where are you from, Cess? 🙂
As far as I’m aware it’s Elliot who owns Ac milan so why are people still talking to cardinal Redbird investors ect.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that Redbird needed a loan in the first place and from the current owners?
What if Redbird never sees the deal through what then?
Depends on the terms of the loan.
Example: I want to buy a car and find a loan at 3%. Even though I can pay cash I don’t. I can make 7% in the market with a conservative risk.
I finance the car and invest the cash.
So 1 in 7 Americans have put their hands in their pockets and shelled out for Milan. Presumably everyone in America loves football or Milan has all 50 million football fans in the country supporting…just Milan.
Even Man Utd do not have that many fans in the US… Who do we think we are lol
You dey mind Cardinale.
The man dey whine boys, Wan run people streets. 550 million fans ke, and 50 million from the USA where football or soccer is still trying to gain traction. 🤣😂
Wahala.
i have been supporting acmilan since 2007
The number of ‘fans’ is based on many factors, such as social media engagement, most major companies use the same metric.
I have been supporting this club since 2000.
My parents were full supporters of this club,but today the inconsistencies from the new management has made me feel bad about supporting this club.
In my country Liberia, we are not about 4,000 persons that are actually a milan fan.
Greetings from Bosnia, i’ve been AC Milan fan since 1994., first football game i ever watched as a kid was Milan-Barca(4-0), ’94 Champions League final. Immediately fell in love and been a huge fan since. I never post here but i read all the comments. I just wanna say hello to all Milanistas here.
If you have all these fans worldwide then invest and be competitive if not because you have no money sell the team and foff pr..k
I started having interest in AC Milan when the club produced the first World Best Player from Africa, “George Weah” in 1995. My support for the club grew after Milan’s match vs Real Madrid in the group stages of the 2002/2003 UCL known as the season of Italian club dominance. AC Milan went on to win the UCL after defeating Juventus via penalties.
As much as social media is necessary for fan base, results on the pitch, quality of players, performance and team management is what obtains and retains support from fans.
Forza Milan