The Gram Journal was created to tell the story of “Made in Italy” and Italian excellence. Not only in the realms of art, fashion, hospitality, design, or food and wine, but also in what lives within people: in their journeys, their visions, and their courage to turn a challenge into a new opportunity.
The story of Antonio Genovese embodies this idea of excellence. It is the story of a man who did not allow his disability to define his destiny, but who continued to build, study, work, and believe in sports as a universal language of inclusion and the future.
Telling his story means giving a voice to an Italy capable of going beyond its limits, of bringing talent and expertise to the world, and of transforming a personal story into a collective message.
Because “Made in Italy” is not just what we create. It’s also what we choose to become.
Antonio Genovese: When a Limit Becomes a Direction
There are stories that don’t need to be told with fanfare, because they already possess a quiet strength of their own. The story of Antonio Genovese belongs to this category: it’s not just the account of a life marked by an extremely difficult ordeal, but the journey of a man who chose not to let a single event define his destiny.
Antonio was fourteen years old when a car accident radically changed his daily life. Until then, he was a boy like any other, with sports at the center of his days and soccer as his natural calling. His prospects were bright, he had the talent, and the dream of joining the youth academies of major clubs like Milan or Inter seemed like a real possibility.
Then, suddenly, everything came to a halt.
A wheelchair entered his life at an age when one normally runs, plays, and imagines a future without obstacles. The first few months after the accident were the most difficult, marked by being far from home, hospitalization outside the region, and a family forced to divide its time between hospitals, responsibilities, and grief. His mother traveled constantly to be by his side and his father’s—who was also hospitalized—while his younger brother was temporarily placed in the care of his aunt and uncle.
In that suspended moment, when everything seemed to have become more difficult,sports represented a first step back toward life. Not immediately as competition, but as an opportunity for connection, movement, and a sense of belonging. Through physical therapists, nurses, games watched up close, and small experiences outside the hospital, Antonio slowly began to reclaim his place in the world.
From there began a long journey, not without obstacles. Architectural barriers were a daily reality: a house with twenty-one steps and no elevator, complicated travel, and cities often not designed for those in wheelchairs. But even more difficult, Antonio says, were—and still are—the cultural barriers. The ones you can’t see, but that weigh heavily. The ones that prevent many people from truly seeing talent, skills, and determination.
For Antonio, his experiences abroad were decisive. In countries like Spain, Germany, England, and the United States, he sensed a different kind of inclusion—one that was more natural and less influenced by prejudice. His experience living in England for a few months confirmed to him just how much the environment can influence opportunities and perceptions of disability.
Soccer, meanwhile, has never left his life. It has changed in form, but not in substance. After the accident, Antonio played wheelchair basketball, then began to carve out an increasingly structured path in the world of sports and soccer. He served as an advisor for Bernini Volley Milano, a men’s Serie C1 volleyball team, and worked as a scout for Inter Milan’s youth academy from 1996 to 2006, later holding the same role at Monza during the 2011–2012 season.
At the same time, he coached amateur teams, turning a passion into expertise. In 2010, he earned his UEFA B license as a grassroots coach and, during the same period, also obtained the equivalent certification from the U.S. Soccer Federation, studying online to earn the American qualification.
His most significant achievement came with the title of UEFA A professional coach.
Antonio was the first—and for years the only—coach in a wheelchair to graduate from the Federal Technical Center in Coverciano. This achievement represents not only a personal success but also a powerful message for the entire sports world: expertise does not require standing on one’s own two feet to be recognized.
His story has also been turned into a book, “Antonio Genovese – The Coach in a Wheelchair,” born out of the affectionate persistence of a friend who had been encouraging him for years to put his experiences down on paper. At first, Antonio didn’t feel ready. Then, just as he was reaching a professional milestone unique in Italy, he realized that perhaps thatstory could be useful to others as well.
Not everything, however, was straightforward.
Even after publication, Antonio realized how difficult it still is in Italy to get certain stories to reach the general public, especially when you don’t start out with an established reputation. But this didn’t discourage him. On the contrary, he’s already looking into the possibility of publishing an English version of his story in the future, convinced that in the United States, there’s a greater tendency to judge a person first by their character, journey, and value, rather than by their appearance.
Alongside his athletic career, Antonio has also built a solid professional career. With degrees in accounting and business administration, he began his career in the corporate sector working in the administration department at Deloitte, one of the Big Four. He then spent ten years as accounts receivable manager at a UniCredit Group company specializing in e-commerce. For the past eleven years, he has been working as an account manager at UniCredit Factoring.
His determination has also been publicly recognized. In 2007, he received the award “Il Giullare,” given to those who, through their own experience, demonstrate that a disability need not mean giving up on one’s dreams. The award citation highlighted his tenacity, passion, and ability to build a meaningful career in soccer despite the difficulties he faced.
Antonio, however, does not like easy labels. His story cannot be reduced to an overused word like “resilience.” Rather, it is a concrete testament to discipline, faith, setbacks, comebacks, and clarity of mind. Even in the toughest moments—such as when he had to undergo two surgeries due to a poorly treated pressure ulcer—he tried to stay true to his motto: “Nothing is impossible if you really want it.”
Faith in God, he says, played an important role during the most challenging times. His struggles also taught him to distinguish between those who are genuinely there for him and those who are merely opportunistic—between the people who stay and those who only come around when it suits them.
His international connections have once again taken center stage in his athletic career. Antonio was selected by theOSA Seattle to coach and sign the women’s team. This opportunity came from the United States at a time when he was struggling to find opportunities in Italy that truly matched his profile. In the end, he had to turn it down because, in the meantime, he had received official notification of his admission to the professional coaching course. The American club, however, still wanted to publicly thank him for his contribution to the development of women’s soccer.
Today, his focus is primarily on New York. In 2023, Antonio founded AG Sports Agency LLC, a company headquartered in the very city that for him symbolizes opportunity, meritocracy, and the future. The project is also expanding through representative offices in Assago, in the province of Milan, and in London.
At the heart of the agency is the Study and Play program, designed to support student-athletes as they pursue their academic and athletic careers at American colleges. This opportunity is also open to students with disabilities, in line with the company’s motto: “Sport for All.” In May 2025, Study and Play became a registered trademark—an achievement Antonio considers a source of great pride.
The dream, now, is to move to New York, live there, start a family, and continue working in both the corporate world and the sports business. If it’s not possible to continue with UniCredit in the United States, Antonio remains confident about the possibility of bringing his senior-level expertise to a major company, without abandoning the development of AG Sports Agency LLC.
His story speaks to those living with a disability, but also to anyone who has experienced a setback, an unexpected detour, or a moment when life seemed to demand that they scale back their aspirations. Antonio urges us not to give in to the judgment of others, not to let limitations define us, and to remember that each of us remains the protagonist of our own lives.
Because, after all, the most authentic message of his experience is precisely this: we can’t always choose what happens, but we can choose the direction our life takes after everything has changed.
Best wishes, Antonio, from all of us!
To follow and contact Antonio Genovese
ISTAGRAM @antoniogenovese.official
Email: antonio.genovese@agsportsagency.com
AG Sports Agency LLC website: https://agsportsagency.com/it/
