Rocco Commisso was 12 years old when he emigrated from his native Calabria, located in the toe of the Italian boot, to New York City. His quickly became an immigrant success story: academic excellence in Catholic high school, a full academic scholarship to Columbia University and then a blazing career in finance and telecommunications that saw him become a billionaire several times over.

He has long been passionate about soccer -- he was an all-American in college and Columbia's stadium is named after him -- and acquired the New York Cosmos in 2017. Last week he went a step further, acquiring Fiorentina, the club of Gabriel Batistuta and Kurt Hamrin, Giancarlo Antognoni and Roberto Baggio, in Italy's Serie A.