Francesco Calvo joins Villa after most recently serving as Juventus’s managing director of revenue and football development.
Francesco Calvo
Francesco Calvo
Aston Villa’s newly appointed president of business operations Francesco Calvo will begin his role at the start of next month.
Recruited ahead of a host of other candidates, Calvo stood out thanks to an impressive CV, having held important roles at European giants Barcelona and Juventus in recent years.
He joins Villa, after most recently serving as Juventus’s managing director of revenue and football development.
Calvo first joined the Italian club in 2011 as commercial director and was promoted to chief revenue officer in 2014. From 2015 to 2018, he held the same role at Barcelona.
He later moved to AS Roma, initially as chief revenue officer and later as chief operating officer.
While at Roma, Calvo worked closely with Monchi, now Villa’s president of football operations. The two developed a strong professional relationship during their time together at the club.
Reuniting with Monchi was seen as a bonus by Villa, but it was Calvo’s highly respected background in football business that made him the best fit for the role.
Francesco Calvo
Francesco Calvo
Villa conducted a thorough recruitment process following the departure of Chris Heck, and Calvo’s extensive experience at the highest levels of the sport made him the ideal replacement.
He will also play a key role in aligning Villa’s business and football departments, while maintaining strong ties with UEFA.
“It is a great honour for me to join this Club at such an exciting time,” Calvo said. “Everyone in football knows the history of and passionate support for Aston Villa.
“In the past few years, we’ve seen this begin to be matched by success on the pitch and progress off it under the ambitious ownership of V Sports. I look forward to working with the Chairman, the Board, Unai Emery and everyone at Aston Villa to continue driving this great institution forward.”
After his time at Roma, Calvo returned to Juventus in April 2022 as chief of staff. Less than a year later, he was promoted to chief football officer.
Before entering the football industry, Calvo studied business administration at Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi. He later earned a master’s degree in Strategic Marketing in 2002 from the Profingest Management School.
He began his professional career in 2004 at Philip Morris International, where he held roles of increasing responsibility. In 2011, he was promoted to director of event marketing before transitioning to football.
Everyday, the BirminghamLive football desk strive to deliver all manner of news, features and transfer-related stories as a part of our overall package of Aston Villa content.
Our dedicated reporter John Townley - who you can follow on X by clicking here - follows Villa home and away and offers you comprehensive coverage from matchdays, press conferences and everything that happens in between.
So much happens day to day and sometimes you can struggle to keep on top of the very latest updates as and when they occur - that's why we have produced a daily newsletter which you can sign up to, for free, and which means you'll have a round-up of the key stories land in your email inbox. Sign up to the Villa newsletter here.
You can also get all your favourite content from BirminghamLive's Villa team on WhatsApp. Click here to sign up for breaking updates about the biggest stories in and around the club.
If you prefer reading our Villa stories on your phone, consider downloading the BirminghamLive app, in which you can personalise the content you see by selecting Villa as one of your designated topics. You can get it from Apple here and for Android here.
Our weekly Aston Villa podcast, Claret And Blue, is also available to watch and listen on all major streaming services. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel here, while you can access the podcast on Spotify here and via Apple here.