Jesse Fioranelli: Shaping Player Pathways Across the Globe
Football is a multi-billion-dollar hybrid industry that features some of the most famous individuals on the planet. Yet the pathways that create these stars remain elusive and hidden from the general public. The final result is often the most visible, but what does it take to bring Antonio Rüdiger from VfB Stuttgart to Real Madrid? Mohamed Salah from FC Basel to Liverpool? And what happens behind the scenes for a player like Cristiano Ronaldo to continue dominating the sport at nearly 40 years old? These are just some of the great players with whom Jesse Fioranelli, a Franklin alumnus, worked to support their individual pathways.
The Next in Management team had the pleasure of welcoming back Jesse Fioranelli as part of their Meet the Manager series. This event followed previous Sport Leaders Meet the Manager sessions featuring Cesc Fàbregas from FC Como, Giacomo Marconi and Gianmarco Sozzi from AC Milan, and Franklin’s own Sports Management course taught by Professor Bernard Sinnaeve of Deloitte. Fioranelli, father of student Jesse Fioranelli Jr., began his professional journey after meeting his wife, Spring Fioranelli, at Franklin around the start of the millennium. He started his first corporate position as a football agent with First Artist PLC contributing to the company’s listing on the English Stock Exchange (AIM) in 2001. He later contributed to the launch of a sports marketing company representing an elite clientele of roughly 650 athletes. Around 2010, his career as an agent came to a close, and he transitioned toward the technical side of football, beginning as an analyst. Starting in Turkey with Samsunspor and later joining the Italian team S.S. Lazio, he developed a strong interest in studying the game and help head coaches convey their game identity to their players. Following Lazio’s legendary Coppa Italia win in 2013, he was approached by their rival club, A.S. Roma, where he led the Direzione Sportiva under Walter Sabatini during one of the club’s most successful era.
At Roma, he was responsible for building the club management program, “Roma Way,” overseeing the scouting, methodology and analysis verticals, and supporting the player development pathway that supported world-class players such as Antonio Rüdiger and Mohamed Salah, reach elite performance levels. During his tenure he formed a collaboration between A.S. Roma and the German National Team (DFB), in support of Rüdiger’s development. After his success in Italy, Fioranelli brought his philosophy of developing player pathways to the United States, where he became the General Manager of the San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer. The DFB was keen to continue working with Jesse and his new MLS club laying strong emphasis on machine learning and player and coaching development. Together they organized the Stanford Sport Leadership Symposium. In parallel, Jesse was co-chair of the player development committee at Major League Soccer which was responsible for the league-wide overhaul of the U.S. youth development system and the new MLS Next competition formats. Most recently, he has worked alongside head coach and 2022 Serie A champion Stefano Pioli as an Advisor. Together, they led AC Milan, including a run to the Champions League semi-finals, Al Nassr, and most recently ACF Fiorentina.
Despite having worked with some of the greatest players in the sport, Fioranelli emphasizes that “a system beats talent every time,” emphasizing that football is not only about exceptional players but also about strategy. He describes his own career as a journey with a non-linear trajectory. During the event, he encouraged students to recognize that their own paths may also be nonlinear, but that every experience will ultimately contribute to their unique trajectory.
From starting as an agent to guiding elite European football clubs, his career demonstrates that pathways to success are rarely linear.
Written by: Alexandria Fraser & Jesse Fioranelli Jr.
Date: 1 December 2025