GdS: Milan ‘excellent’ in the commercial department as Furlani’s Dubai trip proves successful | OneFootball

The Middle East has become the latest area for football to try and conquer, and AC Milan already have a fantastic network in the region, and relationships are only improving.

In the past year, Milan have made several trips to the Middle East to seek relations or improve them, and this mission has been conducted by several members of the management. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gerry Cardinale and Giorgio Furlani have all made the trip, and the Italian has become the latest to do so.

Last week, it was reported that Furlani would head to Dubai to improve relations, and today, Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) has reported how that mission has gone.

Commercially, the club are in a fantastic position and actually find themselves among the best in Europe for these numbers, despite the mishaps on the pitch.

On his latest travels, Furlani’s main goal was to improve the current relationships with Middle Eastern parties, whilst also examining areas to improve in the future.

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Starting with sponsorships, the CEO met with Emirates to seek clarity on the future of their partnership with the brand hoping to extend its sponsorship of the club for at least another ‘3-5 years’ after the ending of the current deal.

The current deal has certainly been a topic of speculation, due to the structuring, meaning Milan get less than the expected €30 million per season – something which we wrote about in one of our latest Substack pieces. However, a new deal would be worth at least this much every year over that period, totalling more than €100m between now and 2030.

For other partnerships, such as the ones with Kerzner and the CFI Financial Group, there are no desires to step back, and in fact, parties want to keep working together, extending agreements and ‘expanding operating margins’.

Ultimately, the Milan brand in the area is huge and there are more than six million supporters in the Middle East of the Rossoneri – the most of any Italian club. So, there is a desire to become even more visible, through things such as the academy, testimonials and even initiatives outside of sport.