An American company acquires an Italian football club

Genoa, one of Italy's oldest football clubs, announced today the transfer of its ownership to the American stock fund "777 Partners" in a deal valued at nearly 150 million euros ($ 175 million), ending an 18-year era with Italian businessman Enrico Preziosi.

"The new owner group, which will acquire 99.9 percent of the shares of Genoa, will inject new capital into the club and will bear certain related obligations," the statement said.

"The previous owner, Enrico Preziosi, will remain on the board of directors, while CEO Alessandro Zazzarpone will continue to manage the day-to-day operations of the club."

Preziosi, 73, acquired Genoa, founded by the English in 1893 as a cricket and athletics club, in 2003 when the nine-times Italian champion was in bankruptcy.

Genoa fans have had little to cheer about since Preziosi's arrival, as they have not won any titles and have been in the top ten in the league only once in the past 10 seasons.

In the season in which Genoa finished the league among the top ten, it came in sixth place in 2015, but was denied participation in the European League "Europa League" because it was unable to obtain a license to participate in "Wifa" competitions by the Italian Football Association.

And his neighbor Sampdoria took advantage of this to win his place in the continental competition because he was seventh at the time in the league standings.

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