Allianz Stadium in Turin Becomes the Global Capital of the Football Industry for Two Days
The eighth edition of SFS – Social Football Summit, the main event organized in Italy dedicated to the international football industry, has concluded. For the first time, the Summit took place in Turin, hosted at the Allianz Stadium, registering exceptional participation from industry professionals, clubs, sports institutions, companies, and media, with over 3,000 attendees, more than 50 panels, over 150 speakers, and 60 partner companies.
The 2025 edition confirmed the Summit’s role as a platform for innovation, networking, and training in the world of football, featuring two days of panels, talks, interviews, workshops, and working groups dedicated to the most strategic topics for the future of the football industry.
Among the over 150 speakers who took the stage were prominent figures such as: Romy Gai (FIFA), Valerio Iachizzi (FIA), Michele Uva (UEFA), Luigi De Siervo (Lega Serie A), Bernardo Azevedo (Liga Portugal), Paolo Bedin (Lega B), Jes Buster Madsen (Saudi Pro League), Lina Souloukou (Nottingham Forest), Marcos Motta (Flamengo), Alfonso Diaz Zaforas (RCD Mallorca), Claudio Fenucci (Bologna), Federico Cherubini (Parma), Laura Cordingley (Chelsea), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Igli Tare (Milan), Roberto Mancini (Al Sadd), Alexander Mühl (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Reschke (Eintracht Frankfurt), Rocio Torres (Atletico de Madrid), Emily Defroand (West Ham United), Nicoletta Romanazzi, Gil Rodas (Barcelona), Daria Braga (Laureus), and Mattia Perin (Juventus) – the first active player to participate in the Summit.
SFS 25 also involved executives and top managers from internationally renowned companies leading the digital transformation of football: Filippo Rizzante (Reply), Sergio Gianotti (AWS – Amazon Web Services), Alessandro Giovannini (European Central Bank), Gianfranco Previtera (Almaviva), Luigi Capitanio (Deloitte), Andrea Peron (Adobe), and Luca Felletti (Intesa Sanpaolo). Their presence confirms the growing attention of the tech, finance, and digital transformation ecosystem toward the football sector as a global platform for the development of new value models, data governance, sustainability, and innovation.
One of the major innovations of the eighth edition was the creation of thematic Working Groups dedicated to co-creating concrete guidelines and proposals. The tables focused on: Artificial Intelligence & Football Intelligence, Infrastructures and Stadiums of the Future, and Female Leadership in Sport. The material gathered will be compiled into a Manifesto of ideas and projects to be presented in the coming months.
The revamped Exhibition Area, which hosted startups, brands, and technology companies in the sector, and the new “Off The Pitch” Speaker Corner, a dynamic space dedicated to editorial formats, corporate presentations, meetings, and cultural talks, were also highly successful. In this context, books by Marco Bellinazzo, Vito Cozzoli, and Giorgio Perinetti were presented, with contributions from guests such as Massimo Mauro.
The SFS Extratime Start Up Competition, in collaboration with Almaviva, featured a challenge between innovative international projects in the tech and digital fields applied to football, and crowned Wovlabs as the winner. Wovlabs is a startup bringing innovation to football merchandising with Authentica, the Digital Product Passport 2.0.
The SFS Awards evening was held at the OGR Torino, recognizing clubs, managers, institutions, projects, and companies that distinguished themselves over the last year in marketing, innovation, social impact, sustainability, and results within the football industry. Among the football organizations awarded in the 2025 edition were: Atletico de Madrid, Barcelona, Bologna, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Napoli, FIFA, and the Premier League.
“SFS 25 represents a crucial stage in our journey,” declared Gianfilippo Valentini, CEO of SFS. “Bringing the event to the Allianz Stadium meant opening a new chapter of growth, creating an even stronger bridge between institutions, clubs, companies, and professionals. Our goal is to continue evolving the Summit as a global platform serving the entire football industry.”
With the conclusion of this edition, SFS confirms its role as an international benchmark for the national and global football world.
