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What an amazing 48 hours it has been for the A-League and the Australian sporting landscape. The imminent arrival of Italian and former Juventus football superstar Alessandro Del Piero has sent the Twitter-sphere into complete overdrive.
Del Piero, landed by Sydney FC, is undoubtedly the biggest name to ever grace our shores. This is a truly game changing moment.
So who can we credit this grand achievement to? Who is the man in the trenches, behind the scenes in the board rooms?
Who is the man responsible? All credit can be directed to perhaps Australia’s most influential man in football, Lou Sticca, player agent and founder of Tribal Sports Management.
Lou Sticca is also by no means a one name wonder. His continued involvement with Australian football has made him arguably the most influential of any man since the A-League’s inception.
It was Lou Sticca who landed the crucial signing of Dwight Yorke in Season One of the A-League for Sydney FC.
‘All Night Dwight’ was a raging success, making an impact on the field, as well as off it, with his prominence on the Sydney nightclub circuit.
The former Manchester United man was the first of many that Sticca has attracted to our shores.
It certainly didn’t stop there, with bigger names and games to come for the A-League.
With his Italian connections he would bring Benito Carbone to Sydney FC in 2006 for a guest stint, after previously attracting Japanese international Kazuyoshi “Kazu” Miura to the Harbour City for a month-long period in the A-League’s inaugural season.
These were once again small success stories the league could build on.
Lou Sticca was also the man responsible for Becks-mania down under, when he successfully lured the LA Galaxy in 2007 for a friendly against Sydney FC.
He was able to bring football’s biggest celebrity and star to our country on several occasions, and boy did it deliver.
Channel 10 broadcast the game to hundreds of thousands nation-wide and over 80,000 people turned up to Stadium Australia in the heart of Sydney.
This was our first taste of the media attention that our beautiful game could generate.
In 2010 Lou Sticca would once again lure David Beckham to Australia.
A friendly against the Newcastle Jets provided a sell-out crowd in the Hunter Valley. This was soon followed up with a friendly against the Wellington Phoenix at the Cake Tin.
Sticca is the man we have to credit for bringing David Beckham to two countries in the Tasman.
While Harry Kewell only spent one season in the A-League, it was Sticca and Tribal Sports who delivered us his stint last season in Melbourne.
This at the time was the biggest signing for the sport.
While many will argue that the Kewell experiment was ultimately a failure, the man certainly build a large amount of publicity for the sport.
Crowds and viewer numbers soared and media discussion was generally positive.
Over 35,000 witnessed another visit by the LA Galaxy at Etihad Stadium when the Melbourne Victory played a friendly against them last season.
The Kewell v Beckham match-up ultimately never occurred on-field, but the fact the two these stars were both in our country playing football speaks volumes.
He is also the man responsible for the A-League friendlies against Celtic and Everton, with Tim Cahill playing for the Toffees against the Melbourne Heart in 2010 and Scott McDonald for Celtic against the Brisbane Roar in 2009.
Lou Sticca has certainly come a long way since his days fashioning the Carlton Soccer Club, he has built up an empire which has influenced the local game in ways we could never imagine.
Talking the talk is something rarely accomplished, but for Sticca, he has achieved this. His global network of contacts and ability to conjure up crucial deals has left the game in great shape.
The man must be admired for his ability to deliver such high calibre moments and players to the fans. While money is certainly a factor, his passion for the game and his strike rate are second to none.
Lou Sticca delivering Alessandro Del Piero to Sydney has given Australian football its golden child, for this he is now the golden man.
Not to end there, his close ties with Fabio Grosso could deliver yet another Italian to the A-League, so here’s hoping for a double coup.
Lou Sticca, bring on the big names.
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