Football, Memory and Identity at the Allianz Stadium

There are places where past and present speak to each other with unusual clarity. The Allianz Stadium in Turin is one of them. Entering it for the Social Football Summit, one has the sensation of being inside a structure that is at once a monument to Italian football and a stage for contemporary debates about governance, inclusion, identity and the sport’s social responsibilities.

At the Crossroads of Football and Culture

The Social Football Summit 2025 unfolded over two full days bringing together clubs, federations, researchers, creators and industry leaders for one of Europe’s most interdisciplinary football conferences. The programme was structured around multiple thematic stages — from governance to innovation, fan culture to media strategy — offering a panoramic view of the forces shaping modern football.

Across the venue, panels, talks and workshops ran simultaneously, creating an environment where conversations about sustainability, artificial intelligence, fan engagement, grassroots development, and women’s football could coexist and inform one another. This format allowed attendees to move fluidly between discussions on technology, policy, culture, education and business, highlighting how interconnected these realms have become within the football ecosystem.

The Summit also featured startup competitions, networking areas, and dedicated spaces for creative and educational projects, making it not only a conference but a collaborative platform for new ideas. From prominent speakers representing elite institutions to grassroots practitioners and innovators, the programme reflected a football landscape in transformation — one in which heritage, identity, media, and social impact play increasingly central roles.

For me, the Summit offered a unique vantage point. As a film director and as Creative Director of Football Makes History, I was equally attentive to how institutions narrate themselves, how they curate their legacy and how they use heritage as a tool for education and identity. Over two days, these layers intertwined beautifully: the discussions pointed forward, while the museum — a short walk away — reminded me of everything football carries from its past.

Day One — Where Football Meets Geopolitics and Cultural Change

The opening day unfolded through conversations situating football not simply as a sport, but as a political and cultural force.

The first major session examined the Geopolitics of Football, with Valerio Mancini, Francesca Petriccione, Jakub Romaniuk and sports lawyer Carlo Rombolà, guided with precision by moderator Giulia Aloisio. Valerio Mancini, Director of the Center for Sport Diplomacy at Rome City Institute and contributor to Football Makes History, offered a compelling analysis of how geopolitical forces shape the game — especially in relation to the upcoming World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. His reflections revealed how the tournament intersects with shifting diplomatic strategies and national interests.

Alongside him, Jakub Romaniuk, organiser of the renowned Economic Forum in Karpacz, presented a wealth of new data outlining economic, demographic and infrastructural projections tied to the event. Their contributions, combined with the legal expertise of the other speakers, formed an interesting yet, at moments, worrying overview of the potential geopolitical implications of a World Cup so strongly championed by current U.S. President Donald Trump. Their perspectives underscored how deeply football functions as a geopolitical language — one that both reflects and shapes global power dynamics.

The day then shifted toward gender and development with Accelerating Growth in Women’s Football: Strategies and Challenges, featuring Domenico Aurelio, Marta Carissimi, Nicola Verdun, Patrizia Panico and Betty Bavagnoli, moderated by Silvia Campanella. The panel unpacked the structural challenges facing women’s football — from youth pathways and resources to visibility and cultural bias — offering a sober reminder that inclusion requires long-term infrastructural work, not slogans.

I particularly appreciated how several speakers highlighted that inclusion should not be framed as a battle between genders — a narrative that is sometimes perceived, and at times even promoted. Instead, they emphasised inclusion as a shared path of progress, one that lifts the entire football ecosystem by widening participation, strengthening structures and opening space for new voices. It was a refreshing reminder that equity is not a zero-sum game but a collective gain.

Alongside these sessions, Day One unfolded through a series of informal but meaningful exchanges — from speaking with Luca Valentino of Operazione Nostalgia to discussing storytelling and cultural identity with Andrea Nardoni of the Federazione Sammarinese Giuoco Calcio. Both expressed a view that deeply resonated with me: that value in sport cannot be reduced to its economic dimension, because the legacy and sense of belonging carried by football clubs are inseparable from the history of their cities, their countries and ultimately from our shared human story. Their reflections reinforced the idea that football heritage is not simply a set of memories, but a living social fabric that continues to shape who we are.

Day Two — Inclusion, Identity and Responsibility

The second day opened with an intimate and thoughtful conversation between Giorgio Chiellini and Giulia Mizzoni. Chiellini spoke candidly about leadership, emotional resilience and the transition from player to cultural figure. His reflections highlighted how athletes increasingly carry symbolic responsibility far beyond the pitch.

The panel on Inclusion — moderated again by Mizzoni and featuring Mariagrazia Squicciarini, Davide Leonarduzzi, Daria Braga and Gaia Pretner — examined the uneasy relationship between the appearance of inclusion and the practice of it. It questioned whether progress is being measured meaningfully or simply narrated. The discussion echoed many of the questions we explore at Football Makes History: inclusion is not only a policy matter but a storytelling matter — who gets to appear in a club’s history, and how?

Another key moment was the session on German governance, led by Bernd Fisa and featuring Alexander Mühl of Borussia Dortmund and Philipp Reschke of Eintracht Frankfurt. Their reflections on the Bundesliga’s 50+1 rule, fan identity and sustainable governance revealed how profoundly heritage shapes institutional choices.

Having collaborated with Borussia Dortmund, alongside Feyenoord and the Anne Frank House, on a documentary project — and having engaged in deep discussions with their cultural and educational staff — the sophistication and foresight shown by the panelists was no surprise. In particular, at the time of directing the documentary in 2021 my exchanges with Daniel Lörcher, former Head of CSR at Borussia Dortmund, left a lasting impression. We once travelled together from Berlin to Auschwitz to document and witness the extraordinary educational work the club carries out with its supporters — work rooted in remembrance, responsibility and the belief that football can deeply impact people’s lives. This experience deeply shaped my understanding of football heritage.

The same is true for Eintracht Frankfurt. Frauke König, former partner of Football Makes History, and former Eintracht Frankfurt Museum Educator, recognised early the educational and societal potential of football heritage. Working with her and the museum Director Matthias Thoma and exploring the museum and community initiatives of the club significantly shaped my own understanding of how clubs can treat heritage as a cultural resource with transformative power.

With these reflections in mind, and still carrying the energy of the Summit debates, I walked into the Juventus Museum ready to see how another major institution chooses to narrate itself.

A Walk into Memory — The Juventus Museum

Stepping into the Juventus Museum after two days of forward-looking debate felt like entering the subconscious of the sport — a terrain where collective memory, identity and narrative structures live side by side.

The museum begins with quiet poetry: a wooden bench.
This simple object marks the club’s origins on 1 November 1897, when a group of teenagers met on an ordinary street corner and founded Juventus. The museum’s opening line — “Our story begins on any ordinary day, in any ordinary street” — resonates deeply with the FMH perspective: football heritage is born in everyday life.

The exhibition then unfolds chronologically, almost like a cinematic montage. Early 20th-century boots and leather balls evoke a game played on gravel and dust. Archival photographs from 1903 onward show players posed stiffly in wool uniforms. Magazines like Hurrà! document the emergence of fan culture. The transition from pink shirts to the now-iconic black-and-white stripes — sparked by a gift from Notts County — reveals football’s early international networks long before globalisation.

One of the museum’s most compelling chapters celebrates Juventus Women, honouring players with over 100 appearances. Women’s football is embedded directly into the club’s main historical narrative. 

A Reflection on Curation — Where Storytelling Could Grow Even Stronger

Walking through the first section of the museum, I noticed how some curatorial choices create an experience that is polished and iconic, yet perhaps a little distant from the emotional world of the visitor. The entrance begins with a dramatic tunnel illuminated by the word JUVENTUS, followed by a room with four large screens looping the club’s most memorable goals. These are spectacular images and undeniably part of the club’s heritage, yet because they are already widely available online, they risk feeling more like a celebration of Juventus than an invitation into its story.

A different approach — perhaps starting with the fans and the unique matchday feeling of the Allianz Stadium, where the distance between supporters and players is among the smallest in Europe — could offer visitors an immediate sense of belonging. Juventus is a club whose identity is inseparable from the emotional experience of its community; letting visitors feel that connection right away might deepen the museum’s opening impact.

Something similar can be sensed in the broader narrative the museum presents. The exhibition features references to Juventus in cinema, literature and global pop culture, as well as artefacts donated by notable supporters from around the world. These elements highlight how widely admired the club is, and they add a playful, international dimension. At the same time, their prominence may unintentionally overshadow other kinds of stories — the unexpected, the lesser-known, the moments where history turned and where Juventus evolved alongside the city of Turin and the country.

Given Juventus’ profound historical ties to the Agnelli family, one of Italy’s most influential families, the club has access to extraordinary stories where football intersects with national history, industry and cultural change. Highlighting more of these connections — the difficult moments as well as the triumphant ones — could enrich the emotional depth of the visit.

For this reason, some of the text within the museum, while rich and informative, might benefit from a more streamlined narrative thread. Instead of relying so heavily on external testimonies confirming the club’s popularity, the museum could foreground something even more powerful: the personal stories of its supporters. Not simply that Juventus is loved, but why it is loved — the memories, identities and life stories that make football heritage meaningful far beyond the pitch. These intimate narratives, universal and deeply human, could help visitors recognise themselves in the club’s history, regardless of their colours.

Why Heritage Matters 

Leaving the stadium, the connection between the Summit and the Museum felt unmistakable. The debates on geopolitics, inclusion, governance, gender and fan identity echoed inside the museum’s corridors, while the museum’s objects provided a deeper historical context. Heritage is not a passive archive: it is a living infrastructure that shapes education, identity and cultural responsibility. In the rich programme of SFS, many panels shone a spotlight on branding, marketing and the ever-evolving world of football business. All great — but part of me couldn’t help thinking that the real magic of the game still lives in its stories. Not just how to tell them, but which ones matter, which ones reveal who a club truly is, and which ones fans secretly wish someone would finally put on a screen. This requires a journey that clubs need to take onto themselves while working with professionals. Perhaps a suggestion for next year? 

Football’s past exists not simply to remember, but to think, question and build better futures.

Thinking Points for Educators

• How do football museums construct identity, and whose stories do they choose to elevate?
• What can the Juventus founding bench teach students about youth activism and civic imagination?
• How can historical objects — boots, shirts, documents — act as tools for reading social history?
• What does the integration of women’s football into the museum’s main narrative suggest about changing cultural values?
• How do governance structures, fan movements and institutional decisions reflect long-term identity formation?

Find Out More

If this journey sparked your curiosity, you can explore more through these resources.

• Discover the club’s history firsthand at the Juventus Museum
• Learn how global institutions connect sport and cultural heritage via UNESCO:
  https://www.unesco.org/en/sport-and-anti-doping
• Understand supporter governance through the German 50+1 rule:
• And explore how women’s football is being developed and professionalised in Italy through the FIGC
• European project Changing the Chants Documentary
• Read our earlier article “More than Trophies”, reflecting on football club museums
• Check out our mapping of good practices in the area of Football Club Exhibitions

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