The owner of the English Premier League’s first-tier Watford Football Club in Watford, Hertfordshire, and the Serie A Udinese Calcio Football Club in Udine, Italy, Gino Pozzo is ready to expand his soccer empire by purchasing the Spanish team Sabadell. In October of 2022, representatives working on the transaction have said that Pozzo and Sabadell are “on the verge of closing a deal” that would dramatically change the direction of the club.
It would also mean big things for Gino Pozzo, who has eaten, slept, and breathed the sport of soccer since the day he was born. As his family were all rabid soccer fans, he followed a number of teams passionately as a child.
Then the Pozzo family decided to transform their love of soccer into a professional matter. Transitioned the family business from woodworking to soccer, Gino Pozzo’s parents purchased a club team in the 1980s. The lessons that he learned by watching his parents served Mr. Pozzo well as the owner of Watford and Udinese.
Now a seasoned business leader, Gino Pozzo seems committed to add to his portfolio of teams with his purchase of Sabadell. Obviously interested in entering the Spanish market for some time, he previously expressed interest in the Granada and Valladolid football clubs.
Sabadell is a Catalonian club that plays in the Primera Division of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. The Primera Division serves as the third tier of the Spain’s structured professional soccer system.
The Spanish sports news authority Sport reports that Gino Pozzo first approached Sabadell during the summer of 2022. Since that time, he and Sabadell president Esteve Calzada have been in ongoing negotiations.
Although the final details of the deal have yet to be decided, reports suggest that an as-yet-unnamed American entity will play an integral part in the sales agreement, which is expected to solidify by the end of November. The exact meaning of the term remains a bit mysterious, but reports say that Gino Pozzo will assume leadership over “sports management” but not take full control of all Sabadell administrative operations.
Another likely result of a Pozzo-led Sabadell is a dramatic boost in club recruitment. Gino Pozzo has a long history, at both Watford and Udinese, of securing emerging young talent from around the world and preparing them for success in European soccer. This may be exactly what Sabadell needs as it currently languishes in 9th place among the 20 teams in the Royal Spanish Football Federation’s Primera Division.
Gino Pozzo likely sees a tremendous amount of promise in the Sabadell team, which features Equatorial Guinean midfielder Joanet (Joan López Elo) and Kenyan international defender Ismael Athuman in addition to a solid squad of Spanish players. The club also sees tremendous promise in its 23-year-old Senegalese winger Moha Keita. Sabadell plays home games at the Nova Creu Alta, which has a maximum capacity of just under 12,000.
With a history that dates back to 1903, Sabadell has played in for considerable periods of time La Liga, the top professional tier in the Spanish football league system. Their longest stint in La Liga was from 1965 to 1972, and their most recent was from 1986 to 1988. Under Gino Pozzo’s leadership some fans are now hoping for a return to this former glory.
Learn more here: https://theathletic.com/3731531/2022/10/26/pozzo-watford-udinese-talks/
