ROME – A return to the Champions League and the benefits of a new stadium should help Italy’s Juventus to stem their financial losses from next season, club chairman Andrea Agnelli said on Monday.Juventus, listed on the Italian stock market, will remain in the red for 2011-12 but losses should be lower than the 95 million euros recorded last year, Agnelli said at the Global Leadership Summit at the London Business School.Top clubs are under pressure to move towards break-even or face exclusion from European competition from 2014-15 under UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.Juventus went unbeaten in the league season in 2011-12 to win the Italian title for the first time in nine seasons, helping to complete their recovery after the club was demoted in 2006 for its part in a match-fixing scandal.They missed out on a domestic double when Napoli beat them 2-0 in the Italian Cup final at the weekend.“If you had offered me the Italian title last September I would have signed up straightaway,” Agnelli told reporters, playing down the cup defeat.Agnelli said turnover should grow to 250 million euros next year, up from around 200 million this year thanks to a return to the Champions League in 2012-13.Juventus are also enjoying the benefits of playing in a new stadium after demolishing the Stadio Delle Alpi, built for the 1990 World Cup, and replacing it with a smaller 41,000-seat arena which has facilities for corporate guests and incorporates a museum opened this month.
