With its confidential negotiations and related millionaire commissions, sensational newspaper headlines and sometimes hidden agendas, it is one of the most exciting moments of the entire football season: the golden and ruthless world of the transfer market. Now, for the first time, it is the subject of new eight-part Sky Original drama series, Impero, created by Tommaso Capolicchio, Giacomo Durzi, Filippo Kalomelidis, Marcello Olivieri and Andrea Cotti, based on the idea by Alessandro Roja in collaboration with Riccardo Grandi.

Covering the most thrilling moments in the world of football - a Sky Studios and Èliseo entertainment series produced by Luca Barbareschi, directed by Fabio Resinaro (Mine, Dolceroma) & Nico Marzano (A Discovery of Witches, Spectre, Inferno,Medici), sees Francesco Montanari (The Hunter - Il cacciatore, Medici) once again starring in a Sky Original production. This follows the widely acclaimed Romanzo Criminale - La serie.

Leading the international cast alongside Francesco Montanari are David di Donatello winner and Oscar nominee Giancarlo Giannini (Casino Royale, Il cuore altrove, Seven Beauties) and Elena Radonicich (1992, La porta rossa, Fabrizio De André – Principe libero).

Impero will explore all aspects of football managers’ work from the economic and political interests behind the signing of football players, to the success of an entire team and the impact on their personal lives.

Antonella d’Errico, Executive Vice President Programming Sky Italia said: “With Impero we get behind the scenes of the world of Italian football. Through a fictional story, that of a man who has unjustly lost everything and will try to rise back to the top, we are going to explore the most hidden and unknown side of this world as well as its dynamics of power. We are glad to announce that the brilliant cast is already at work on set to give life to this project and we are really pleased to work again with Francesco Montanari who, more than 10 years ago, as a very young acting talent starring in Romanzo Criminale - La serie, together with Sky experienced the birth of the successful track record of Sky’s original productions. We are very proud to mark with Impero another step forward in this direction.”

Commenting on the series, Luca Barbareschi, founder & CEO Eliseo Multimedia, declared: “Impero is the story of a man's redemption. Corso Manni is a star manager of the football world. At the peak of his career, he loses everything, his job, his marital happiness, the relationship with his father. Unjustly accused of being involved in an illegal betting business, he is framed and he will have to pay a high price to rehabilitate himself. Impero is also the coming-of-age novel of two young champions, a highly valued and aspirational story. Because when it comes to football, there is a point of view that needs to be told, that of a dream. What makes you imagine that the asphalt can be a turf, that two backpacks on the ground can mark the boundary of the goal and that the suburbs where you were born could be a floodlit stadium. What remains of a game is not so much the result but rather the heroism of the challenge, the sporting gesture and the code of honour of our Empire.”

Principal photography is in Milan and will also take place in Rome and Sardinia. Impero is on Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW in the UK and Ireland, and will be available in all Sky markets. NBCUniversal Global Distribution will handle international sales of the series on behalf of Sky Studios.