Exclusive: A decade after he arrived in Australia to join Sydney FC, Alessandro Del Piero tells Tom Smithies about life in the US, becoming an entrepreneur – and why he feared “a second death” after retiring
Maybe it’s the dappling effect of a Zoom call, or the forgiving light of an LA afternoon, but Alessandro Del Piero doesn’t seem to have changed at all.
A decade since he first arrived to join Sydney FC on September 16 2012, in a blaze of publicity and adoration, it’s a very familiar face on screen from his US home, detailing the packed life of ADP the businessman, coach and parent.
The footballer who’d been there and done that has now bought the T-shirt, his investment in a clothing business – who’s T-shirt he is of course sporting for this catch-up – adding to his financial interests in an LA restaurant, a football club and academy, a cocktail firm and a sunglasses manufacturer.
Then there’s the UEFA A Coaching Licence attained last year, with his Pro Licence to be finished shortly, plus varied punditry roles with ESPN and CBS in America for the Champions League and Serie A. Being Alessandro Del Piero is very much a full-time occupation.
In that light it’s easy to forgive him being a few minutes late for this call – “Sorry for being late, I’m Italian, so you know… coffee time,” he grins – especially when the memories and stories flow of his two years in Australia, and of the reinvention of Del Piero into a post-footballing life since.
He still finds time to return to Italy a week in every month, but LA has – kind of accidentally – become home for now to Del Piero and his family, and fatherhood is a large part of that for one of contemporary Italy’s most celebrated sons.
As many public figures have found before him – not least David Beckham – the atmosphere in LA is a little less frenetic, and means that as a father to Tobias, 14, 13-year-old Dorotea and Sasha, 11, he can worry less about the scrutiny they might otherwise be under in Italy with such a famous surname.
“It’s not because I don’t want them in Italy, but I left Australia when Tobias was six and my little one, Sasha, was only three. I was struggling a lot with learning English – you remember very well! – and I want that they have another experience in the world that is very unique,” he says.
“Los Angeles is the centre of music, technology and of diversity… I thought it was a good place for them to develop English for two more years as a language to become like a mother language for them. And see differences, different things, new things.
“Of course we go back in Italy, two months every summer. [But] then these two or three years (in LA) become more because you get used to things.
“For me living here, and for them, it’s a little bit easier, you know, you go to the park and go to the restaurant, it’s less crowded and less like this. So we can live as a family, you know, you can have much quality time.”
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A decade ago we all had “much quality time” when a footballer rated in FIFA’s Top 125 of all time traded Turin for Sydney. This was stardust like the A-League had never seen, attracting the eyes of the world. Everything ADP did drew fascination, every word was hung upon – even when his English rather charmingly slipped up. “I am here,” he said on arrival, “and I am exciting.”
Even now it’s hard to pass judgment on his two years in Sky Blue in a footballing sense. Sydney FC was in a period of rebuilding under Ian Crook and suddenly had to incorporate Del Piero’s brilliance; the team’s results were average.
But the man himself produced a highlights reel to leave fans purring at just about every sold-out game, and the A-League revelled in his popularity. A decade on, ADP will cheerfully list his own favourite memories: scoring a freekick on his debut, putting four past Wellington Phoenix, scoring the winner in the first Sydney derby, beating Melbourne Victory 5-0. In fact Australia as a whole was one big happy memory, it seems.
“Well, I’m looking back with a big smile,” he says. “I mean, I face a lot of new things. Most of them beautiful, some of them challenging for us; for example, not only the language (or) driving on the right side instead the left.
“I’m talking about habits, about people, friends, and everything was a big change, a jump in a new world completely. But this is a great experience for my kids, for my family. I mean, we still have friends that come to LA to have some holiday with us sometimes.
“I don’t like to say this was a good decision (or) wasn’t a good decision, this was the decision at that time… then that’s become part of your life, and I’m super happy what happened, the good, amazing memory that I have.
“The fact that after two years of my experience, so Sydney became a better, stronger team, and a club with a great vision in the future, that Australia won the Asian Cup that year, and football was recognized around Australia and also around the world. Because everybody knows that Australia is a home of other sports.”
That was a big part of the sales pitch to Del Piero in 2012 from Sydney’s then-CEO Tony Pignata and agent Lou Sticca, to help build a footballing frontier in Australia. It was a challenge that excited him but also, it turns out now, slightly unnerved him.
“Well, yes, we face a lot of new things, new challenges. I felt that pressure but to be honest, everything went well, from the first day in Sydney that we filled Allianz Stadium – and I’m happy that they rebuild it now, it looks beautiful from the photos and videos that I’m looking at on the internet.
“The first day (playing for Sydney), it was a crazy, crazy day, you know – everybody was excited, and I scored a goal that day so that was kind of cool. Every stadium that we went to, it was a big event and most of them were full capacity. So I was happy about that.
“Remember (Shinji) Ono from Japan and (Emile) Heskey from the UK. The first derby in Sydney, Western Sydney born a few months before. That stuff was cool. (Did I) feel the pressure? Yes, I felt the pressure. But that’s why you live! I don’t like to be comfortable most of the time. If there’s a challenge to do, let’s do it. Then you see the result and you see what happened.”
Years later and Sydney still holds a soft spot in Del Piero’s storied career – “of course, they won a lot of titles and I’m super happy about that. (Sydney head coach) Steve Corica, of course, was there with me as an assistant coach, and as a coach was a great guy, and Rhyan Grant is still there, there’s a few are still there. But I’m happy that they’re doing great stuff.”
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After Australia, a handful of appearances in India brought Del Piero’s career to a close at 40, forcing him to address the truth that confronts all athletes dealing with their own sporting mortality.
In effect, he says, you can “die twice”, so dishevelling can the end of a player’s career become.
“As a football player, you’re involved 100% of your time, every day, especially in Europe when you have an 11-month season and you have two, maybe three weeks of holiday. When you have time to rest during the year, if you are a big player, you play for your national team. At a certain level, there is no stop.
“So when you jump in a new life, you say, wait a minute, what’s going on? Everything (before) was organized, every single moment of your day. (Then) you jump in a new life: Okay, now I’m waking up and I don’t have to do nothing. One day, two days, three days, a week. Then after 15 days you (still) don’t do something, it’s like, What am I doing?
“It’s a huge problem with American football players. They have a huge percentage of people that get really, really rich at some point. You have a lot of money for three, four, five, six, even seven years. And then all of a sudden, you stop playing and you think that you can go on with the same life.
“So you die when you finish playing. I played 25 years as a professional and even 10-12 years before as a young player dreaming to become professional. So it’s 37 years of your life, focusing your mind on one thing only.”
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The menu at Del Piero’s restaurant in LA features Crispy Skin Salmon “cooked to perfection”, a description that would fit any number of defenders left helpless in the Italian’s wake.
But it’s scarcely a vanity project for a footballer-turned-businessman who set out to be an entrepreneur – his own word – as the antidote to that potential mid-life crisis.
“I think you need to find yourself in a position to discover new worlds,” he says. “A restaurant is a big challenge, is a new world and very, very difficult for many reasons. So you learn stuff.
“The important thing is, when you start a new adventure – and we can compare what happened in Australia or when you go to new countries – go there with open eyes and an open heart, open mind.
“In a new adventure, a new company or new staff, you need to be able to be open to understand, to learn, and put yourself around people that actually know more than you, and you can trust.”
The same singularity of focus is evident as the conversation returns to his children – Tobias is trialling with Spanish side Getafe, despite the level of expectation that is inherent in his name.
“They feel pressure because I put them under pressure sometimes,” he grins as his children run past in the background. “No, I’m always supporting them. The only thing that I’m always asking them: if you choose to do one thing, you put in 100% of yourself. You don’t quit. You do what you have to do.
“I don’t mind the result. Of course you have to look to win the game or to perform better to become a better player. If it’s soccer, it’s soccer. Basketball, it’s basketball, if it’s something else who cares? If it’s sport, I’m super happy – if it’s not sport, I’m still happy.
Buy tickets for Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory on October 8 – the return to Allianz Stadium.
“I think they feel the pressure because they know who I am. But this journey together, and the journey as a father, is incredible. Very, very challenging and difficult sometimes, very beautiful on the other side, very emotional.
“So the thing is that I’m trying as much as I can to be a father, not to be a former football player, not to be a coach for them. And of course, I’m happy to share any kind of suggestion on everything, but try to do it in the best way possible.”
