Gino Pozzo
| Gino Pozzo | |
|---|---|
 Gino Pozzo Holly.jpg.gallery.jpeg | |
| Born | Gino Pozzo Italy |
| 🏳️ Nationality | Italian |
| 🏫 Education | Harvard University |
| 💼 Occupation | Owner of Watford FC |
Background
Gino Pozzo is a member of a family renowned for its prominence and business ownership. He is the son of football enthusiasts Giampaolo Pozzo, an Italian businessman, and Giuliana Pozzo, through whom Gino is related to the former presidents of the Udinese Calcio football club, to whom the family has maintained a loyal commitment throughout their lives. Gino moved to the United States at the age of 18. When he married a Catalan, he relocated to Barcelona, Spain, where he spent nearly two decades. Together with his wife and three children, Pozzo moved to London in 2013 to become more involved with the then-newly-acquired Watford Football Club at Vicarage Road. Gino Pozzo is married to Carla Pozzo, and they have two daughters and a son together. They currently all live in Watford and a house in Spain.
Career
Gino Pozzo’s career has been marked by success. During his tenure, the 53-year-old has carved himself a reputation as one of the most forward-thinking, but also interventionist, owners in football.
Gino is the prodigal son and the mastermind of the Pozzo family. His first exposure to club ownership came with Udinese Calcio in 1993. His father had purchased the club in 1986, and Gino turned it around soon after joining, helping it climb from Serie B to Serie A, where it remained for over two decades.
It was Gino Pozzo who convinced his father to expand the family’s football portfolio with the purchase of Granada in 2009. As such, following Udine, Gino was an integral part of the family’s sports ownership going international when they acquired Granada F.C. when the club was facing a €12m debt and a struggle to climb beyond a third division. This was also after three years’ worth of administrative issues the club was battling. In 2009, he became the mastermind behind turning the club around in only two years. He was directly involved in the administrative proceedings, such as the club’s operations and signings. Ultimately, his involvement helped Granada rise from Segunda B to the Primera Liga for the first time in 35 years.
Gino Pozzo is currently the owner and managing director of the Watford Football Club in England, which also goes by the name Hornets. He has held these positions ever since 2014, and his first season in sole charge brought promotion to the Premier League. His family had invested heavily in the club and also followed a strategy that included the transfer of several players to and from other teams, Granada and Udinese Calcio. His participation has contributed to the team enjoying their fourth consecutive year in the Premier League. This has been the longest time they have been at such high ranks ever since 1988. This also marks an arguably most successful spell for some time at the club. Other notable achievements for the Watford Hornets under the rule of Gino Pozzo include only two losses after 12 games and rising to eighth place in the Premier League. They also made it to the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.
Given his active involvement in all aspects of a football club’s activities, it is no surprise that Gino’s participation leads to such successes. He is not just limited to administrative or fiscal duties and decisions but has a hand in every level of the club’s daily operations. This includes being present at Watford’s training ground almost on a daily basis. This helps him stay on top of his teams’ development from all angles. Pozzo has also helped the club maintain their manager for a record-breaking long time.
Furthermore, Gino Pozzo takes personal charge of the process of recruiting players at Watford. On his arrival, he made sure it was known that he believed that recruiting was not in the hands of the manager. This was evident during an interview he gave with the Watford Observer, during which he commented that “If you are looking at the long term, especially in a smaller club, you want to retain as much knowledge on how to recruit a player as possible. If you only give that to a manager, then once the manager leaves he leaves with all that knowledge. It is not the club’s knowledge.”
Achievements
Gino’s involvement in the operations of several soccer clubs led to their successes. These include the following:
- Udinese: Helped rise to Serie A
- Granada F.C.: Helped rise to Primera Liga for the first time in over 30 years
- Watford F.C.: Led the Hornets from lower-level Championship contenders to one of the country’s top 10 teams in the Premier League in only four years.
Gino was ranked #4 on Talksport’s 2019 rankings of CEO football club owners.
