Claudio Lotito is now officially Lazio’s longest serving president in history. The 64-year-old chief executive has held him job at the helm of Biancocelesti affairs since 19th July 2004, making it 17 years and 8 months since his appointment at Stadio Olimpico.
As of April 15, the Rome-born official surpasses Fortunato Ballerini as the president with the highest number of days in office – 6, 479 against 6,478. Ballerini was the club president from 1904 to 1922 and now, 100 years later, Lotito has overcome that record.
Lotito has won three Coppa Italia titles, along with as many Supercoppa Italiana championships during his reign as president. The Italian entrepreneur has a controversial history of sorts, and the highlight of those controversies emerged just as he took his chair in the Lazio office, with the 2006 Calciopoli marking a stain on his reign.
He was banned from football for two and a half years in July 2006 and implicated Lazio in their relegation to Serie B and their subsequent ousting from the 2006/07 UEFA Cup as punishment for involvement in the football scandal.
However, since then, he has managed to stay out of controversies as big as that one.