Gino Pozzo – Watford Football Club Owner

Gino Pozzo is the owner of Watford FC as well as a director at Udinese and Granada. Gino holds Italian citizenship but is not yet Italian by birth, so he cannot compete for a spot on FIFA’s World Football governing body since he didn’t live his first five years abroad. Gino Pozzo arrived in England in 1996 to buy Watford FC from Ken Bates, who was forced out by Ken’s father, Sir Jack.

Early Life

Gino Pozzo was born in Turin, Italy. He received a degree in business from Bocconi University in Milan and worked for several years as a business development manager at a multinational company based in Milan. In the early 1990s, Pozzo moved to London, where he was employed at an Italian-based company called Diesel. He subsequently worked as a finance director for Fanini Sportswear and helped to establish the English subsidiary of Donna Karan in London. In 1996, Pozzo was appointed as the new executive chairman of Watford Football Club on behalf of his father, Giampaolo Pozzo.

Career

Gino Pozzo began his career in football during the late 1980s with Udinese Calcio Football Club, a department belonging to Gino’s father, Giampaolo. After spending three years as a player for Udinese and moving into coaching, Gino’s first appointment at the club was in 1987, where he was appointed assistant manager. Gino then spent two years at Cremonese before being appointed as manager by Udinese in 1989

Achievement

Since taking over the role of chairman at Watford in June 2011, the club has been transformed from a lower league club to one that has finished in mid-table previously. Pozzo has strengthened the squad with several high-profile signings and taken Watford to their first Wembley Stadium appearance for 14 years via a giant-killing run in the FA Cup.

To be successful, Pozzo has followed the example of his mentor Sir Alex Ferguson by establishing a successful academy system as well as bringing in youth players at every stage up to the senior level. The club’s youth teams have won numerous youth cups at the club and national levels showing that Pozzo is keen on developing the very best young players. Pozzo is also credited with being a good judge of talent. See this page for more information.

Learn more about Pozzo on https://www.standard.co.uk/topic/gino-pozzo