IVAYLO RACHEV
IR8 founder
- International football managements
- Talent development & sport events
- Strategic partnership & business
- Investment promotion
IVAYLO RACHEV is a Bulgarian entrepreneur and international business professional with experience across football management, sports, international events, marketing, business development and investment projects. Through IR8, he has built professional relationships connecting Bulgaria, Italy and other international markets, working with football clubs, sports professionals, companies, investors and institutional partners. In international football, he took part in the transfer of BAKAYE TRAORÉ, the Malian international midfielder, from AC MILAN to KONYASPOR in Türkiye, and assisted in the international process that led to FABIO CAPELLO’s appointment as head coach of the RUSSIAN NATIONAL TEAM. In Bulgaria, he has brought AC MILAN and JUVENTUS academy junior camps to Sofia, Dryanovo, Byala and Tryavna since 2011, and the ALL STARS GAME to Panagyurishte in 2018.
DIEGO FICARRA
Football Director for Italy and Europe – IR8
- Football operations, Italy & Europe
- Youth talent identification & development
- Relations with clubs and academies
- Player career planning
DIEGO FICARRA, born in Vevey, Switzerland, in 1969, is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a defender for CANICATTÌ, LICATA, VICENZA, PARMA, TRIESTINA, POTENZA, NISSA, ATLETICO CATANIA and TARANTO. With LICATA he played two seasons in SERIE B, from 1988 to 1990, and won the SERIE C1 and SERIE C2 titles. Within the IR8 international football platform he is the Director of Football for Italy and Europe, responsible for youth talent identification, player development, club relations and international career pathways. He brings first-hand professional experience and knowledge of the Italian football environment to the development of young players and to the partnerships between clubs, academies and football professionals, and he currently holds sports responsibilities in Sicily.
LUIZ ROCHA
FIFA licensed agent
- Talent identification & development
- Transfers & contract negotiation
- Investment structuring & due diligence
- Integrity, Safeguarding & regulations
For more than two decades, LUIZ ROCHA has advised clubs, investors and athletes on strategy, transfers, contracts and the regulations that govern them. A consultant to MANCHESTER CITY on talent identification in Brazil and to football investment funds in Brazil and Luxembourg, he has represented or discovered some of Brazil’s most important talents: GILBERTO SILVA; LUCAS SILVA, taken from CRUZEIRO to REAL MADRID; ENDRICK, found at the age of ten and taken to PALMEIRAS; and ESTÊVÃO, whom his company was the first to take to PALMEIRAS. Over the last decade, with his partner PAULO ROCA, he has built the selection and development method that found Brazil’s best young talents. A medical doctor by training (UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE MINAS GERAIS, ranked first among Brazil’s federal universities), he is licensed by FIFA to represent minors and writes on integrity in football.
FEDERICO TAVOLA
Iterpro founder
- International negotiations
- Legends team management
- Sports data & business intelligence
- Science and Academy
For more than twenty years, FEDERICO TAVOLA was the manager of AC MILAN and Italy legend FRANCO BARESI, leading international negotiations with federations, clubs and leagues. He was also team manager of GLORIE AZZURRE, Italy’s national legends team, playing friendlies alongside FRANCO BARESI, ROBERTO BAGGIO, CHRISTIAN VIERI and others. A nuclear physics graduate, he spent years in research building complex mathematical models, and he teaches physics at the UNIVERSITY OF MILAN. He is the founder of ITERPRO, a leading business-intelligence platform in football, working with federations and clubs including AC MILAN, INTER and PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN on the digital transformation of scouting, injury prevention and performance management, in youth academies and first teams.
FABIO ALGERI
Football agent
- Football transfers
- Negotiations
- Coordination
- Wide network
Fabio Algeri is an Italian professional in the football industry, with reported experience in international transfer negotiations, club relations and player representation. In July 2021, he joined the network of SEG – Sports Entertainment Group, an international group active in athlete representation and sports business. His work has been associated with negotiations, relationships between clubs and coordination among parties involved in football transfers. Fabio Algeri is an Italian football professional whose name has been associated in sports media with high-profile international transfer negotiations. Højlund’s move to Napoli is among the most recent transactions.
1. Rasmus Højlund — Manchester United → Napoli
In the summer of 2025, Algeri was reported by the media as an intermediary involved in the negotiations that brought Danish striker Rasmus Højlund to Napoli on loan with an obligation to buy. Napoli subsequently completed the permanent acquisition in 2026.
2. Sam Beukema — Bologna → Napoli
The Dutch defender joined Bologna from AZ Alkmaar in 2023 and moved to Napoli in July 2025. Italian sports media reported a fee of approximately €30 million plus bonuses. Algeri’s specific role in this transaction should be distinguished from the transfer itself, which was confirmed by the clubs.
3. Rasmus Højlund — Atalanta → Manchester United
Højlund’s move to Manchester United in 2023 was one of the major deals of that summer’s European transfer market. Italian media mentioned Algeri among professionals involved in transactions connected with the club and the player.
4. Remo Freuler and Nicolás Domínguez — Bologna / Nottingham Forest
Algeri was identified by Italian sports media as a key figure in the 2023 transaction involving Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler and Argentine midfielder Nicolás Domínguez, illustrating reported involvement in transactions between Italian and English clubs.
5. Tijjani Reijnders — AZ Alkmaar → AC Milan
Algeri has also been associated in Italian media with the operation that brought Dutch midfielder Tijjani Reijnders to AC Milan in 2023.