Over the last few years, a lot has been written about Udinese. From their rise to European status and their fall to Serie A mediocrity to the brilliance of captain Antonio Di Natale and the questionable genius of owner Giampaolo Pozzo.
But, who exactly is this Giampaolo Pozzo?
Everyone seems to know his business model, but not a lot seems to be known about the man himself. What does he do outside of soccer? Does he have a day job? Who will take over for him once he retires from his trinity of clubs? Is he even Friulano?
Below answers all of those questions and more, including: who his wife’s role model is, why his son once preferred crimson before Bianconeri, and why it really is Pozzos’ world, we just live in it.
Introducing the Pozzo Players…
Giampaolo Pozzo, Patriarch and Owner
Giampaolo Pozzo is one of the most talked about Italian club owners in recent history. His club business model—buy low, sell high—has been discussed and debated around the soccer world; his approach to treating a club like a business—without a silly thing like emotion or sentimentally to get in the way—has been both his unashamed and unapologetic.
He is looked upon as both a business-savvy, brilliant owner, whose scouting and selling genius should be envied and as a parasite to the sport, whose business model is everything that is wrong with the modern game.
But, love him or hate him, agree with him or disagree with him, it is unarguable: Giampaolo Pozzo does seem to know what he’s doing.
Pozzo bought Udinese in 1986, a serendipitous year as it is a numerical anagram for the club’s founding year, 1896. Pozzo, an Udine native, was already an established and successful business man at the time of the club’s purchase; Udinese was just another enterprise to have under his belt and another root he would plant within the Udine community.
Despite Udinese’s first few years under Pozzo rule being met with a rocky start—including financial troubles, a match fixing scandal, and the occasional regulation to Serie B—eventually, Pozzo brought the Italian side up to be a contender.
Throughout his time of owner of the club, he brought in players like Oliver Beirhoff in the 1990s and a whole lot of notable players more recently, he made Udinese a Champions League-worthy team and a household name, and in 2008, he was even elected Best President in Serie A.
All while running other side business ventures.
The Pozzo family has been known for decades in Udine for their work in the woodworking and tool manufacturing industry, most notably through the Freud Group of tools. In 2008, the Freud Group was acquired in part by Bosch Power Tools for an undisclosed sum; a year later, the Pozzo family bought Spanish-side club Granada.
Like the expansion of his soccer empire (Pozzo bought English-side Watford in 2012), Pozzo is slowly expanding his business empire as well and has publically discussed trying to break through a North American market; who knows if future business deal may include a Major League Soccer (MLS) team as well.
Whatever Pozzo decides to do in the future, it is clear that he has no plans to slow his business or soccer enterprises down in the near future. Only time will tell what his next venture, in which country, will be.
Giuliana Pozzo, Matriarch and Misunderstood
Despite Mr. Pozzo being the assumed leader of the pack, there is another important Pozzo who is highly involved in decision making.
Referred by the Furlan media as “The Iron Lady of Football,” Mrs. Pozzo is said to be a major power authority for the club. Portrayed as both villainess and matron—depending on the source—Mrs. Pozzo is adored and despised. Her opinion and influence overshadows the club and some believe most major decisions fall to her, despite a fairly private presence exhibited by the club itself.
While the other Pozzo family members attend to their other clubs around Europe, Mrs. Pozzo continues to remain in Udine and in control of Udinese.
However, she is not to be written off as the Italian version of Victoria Beckham, brought into the club through marriage to become a Friulani ficcanaso.
This assumption would is highly incorrect: Mrs. Pozzo is more of an heiress of Udinese, rather than its evil stepmother.
She is the granddaughter of former Udinese President, Giuseppe Bertoli and the cousin of Dino Bruseschi, Bertoli’s presidential successor. In other words, Mrs. Pozzo was born into the club; it could be argued that it was Mr. Pozzo who married into it.
Well the extent of her control over the club is debatable (though, she has be quoted as saying that she believes that all women should be like Scarlett O’Hara, the headstrong protagonist in Gone with the Wind), one aspect of the club that she runs passionately is Udinese Per la Vita, the club’s non-profit foundation she began in 1998.
Through Udinese Per la Vita, and Mrs. Pozzo, Udinese has become more accessible for fans with disabilities (via the physical structure of the stadium and through various programs), has a more philanthropic presence in the city of Udine, and she has been a champion for various causes, including donations to hospitals for medical equipment and programs.
Despite the ways the media portrays her, Mrs. Pozzo does try to leverage her position—whether it may be officially and unofficially— to better the community both inside and outside the stadium.
Gino Pozzo, Son and Future Heir
While the Pozzo’s have more the one child, the one who is taking over his parent’s business savvy is Gino Pozzo, the groomed heir to their empire, both on and off the pitch.
But this is not just another case of nepotism. Like his parents, Gino has earned his Udinese stripes. At the age of 18, he left Udine to continue his education in the United States, where he would eventually go on to earn a Master’s degree from Harvard.
Gino moved back to Europe, setting in Barcelona where he and his Spanish-born wife raised three children. Gino continued business in Spain, and like his father, set up several business ventures ranging from electrical and tool products to property and finance.
Eventually Gino’s position in Spain lead him to the running of Grenada; under the Pozzo rule, with Gino himself at the helm, the struggling Grenada went from third tier to La Liga in just three seasons.
In 2012, when the Pozzo family bought the English Championship League team Watford, Gino moved to England to oversee the club’s progress. In its first year under Pozzo ownership, Watford came just shy of being promoted into the Premier League and produced some of the best players of the year.
Gino is following in his father’s business savvy footsteps, being groomed to takeover all of the Pozzo Empire. He has become a fan favourite in England and looks to future developments in both the business and soccer world.
The Pozzo family is slowly taking over the world. However, Udinese is a major factory within their world dominance.
With entrenched family tradition mixed with a new generation of management, the future of Udinese (and Grenada and Watford and various power tool companies) will be bright.
Or, failing that, it will at least be interesting.
