Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus & Italian Football Legend) on Culture In A Championship Locker Room, Being A Captain, Moving To MLS & His Executive Future

Chad Biagini (0:01)

Excellent Leadership Podcast listeners, we have a treat for you today. We are joined by footballing icon and legend, Georgio Chiellini. I'm your host, Chad Biagini, and I will be interviewing Georgio today with my colleague, Eymeric Moura. From captaining Juventus in the Italian national team, to winning the Euros and leading one of the most dominant defensive units in modern football, Georgio's career has been nothing short of legendary. He was a warrior on the pitch, a leader in the locker room, and now he's transitioning into the world of football business. Georgio's journey offers valuable lessons in resilience, leadership, adapting to new challenges, and he's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Today we'll dive into what it takes to maintain excellence at the highest level, the mental toughness required to lead through adversity, and how he's shaping the future of sport beyond his playing days. You do not want to miss today's episode.

Hi, Chad Biagini here, host of the Excellent Leadership Podcast. Joined today with colleague and co-host, Eymeric Moura and Georgio Chiellini, Italian superstar in the game of football. Georgio, thank you for joining us.

Giorgio Chiellini (1:09)

Thank you, Chad. I'm very happy to be here.

Chad Biagini (1:12)

Georgio, I'm excited about today's conversation. Thanks for letting us have this discussion. We're going to start with some fun ones before we dive into your career. If you could tackle any footballer again, who would it be and why?

Giorgio Chiellini (1:24)

I think Ibrahimovic because he was my best enemy during my career and I was his teammate, and then we played against a lot of times, and now we met, and I have a good relationship with him. I love to play with him, I love him, but I also love to play against him.

Chad Biagini (1:46)

You both went to rival teams in Los Angeles at some point in your careers, but you didn't play each other in LA, right? You just missed each other on the timeline.

Giorgio Chiellini (1:53)

He didn't want, he didn't win, I won.

Chad Biagini (1:55)

Yeah, that's a good point.

Eymeric Moura (1:58)

I love that answer.

Chad Biagini (1:59)

What's the wildest thing an opponent ever said to you during a match to try to throw you off your game?

Giorgio Chiellini (2:04)

But you know that trash-talking is not so common in football in Europe. I mean, I never had some so weird trash-talking during a game, I mean, I never did it. Okay, sometimes you could complain about some fouls or everything, but it's not about yourself. It's very different than what I've seen in the US when I read about basketball and all this thing. We don't have to prove that we are better with trash-talking. We have just to kick and then complains with everything and yelling to each other, but not really this type of talks.

Eymeric Moura (2:40)

You were talking about trash-talking and that's actually a good link to the next question. What have you ever done during your career to psych out a penalty kicker and did it work?

Giorgio Chiellini (2:52)

No, not a penalty kicker. What I did a lot of times is try to annoy my opponents and try to understand what I don't like to receive, like to be touchy, to be a little bit pushy, without the ball, all these little tricks that sometimes I don't love to receive, obviously, hand in the face or something that you could do in order to get frustrated, this type of thing. But to a penalty kicker, you cannot do anything, just pray that your keeper could save the ball.

Eymeric Moura (3:29)

And you had a really good one, actually.

Giorgio Chiellini (3:31)

Yeah, I had the best. I was very lucky during my career.

Eymeric Moura (3:36)

If you were to give a speech to the Italian squad for the opening of the World Cup 2026, what would you tell them?

Giorgio Chiellini (3:43)

That finally we are back again. That I wasn't able to play the last two World Cups. And they have to be proud to represent Italy. And they have to be proud to show to some kids that they never saw Italy playing a World Cup. How much beautiful is football and how much all the Italian nation is good.

Chad Biagini (4:11)

Georgio, you've had an amazing career. Playing in Serie A for most of it. European glory and getting to win the Euros to playing in MLS. Now your role off the pitch. Before we get there, what was life like growing up?

Giorgio Chiellini (4:27)

I grew up in a very small city in Tuscany, Livorno.

My father is a doctor, my mother is a manager. The star created from nothing from the scratch. And I always loved football. Honestly, at five years old, I wanted to play basketball because my best friend at the time started to play basketball, but I was too small to play basketball. And then I started football with my twin brother. And I liked it. And fortunately, I continued this path. At 13 years old, I was selected by our small team that was third division at that time for the YOW team. But I wasn't selected by Empoli or Fiorentina. That was the best one in Tuscany. I started to be part of a region selection at 14, 15, and the youth national team since 16 years old.