Gino Pozzo (born 1973) owns the Watford Football Club and the Italian club Udinese Calcio Football Club. He was born in Italy but moved to England with his family as a child. His father, Giampaolo Pozzo, is a self-made billionaire. Gino Pozzo’s investment group also has stakes in Spanish football clubs Granada CF, Elche CF, and CD Lugo; Swiss football club Servette FC; Turkish club Göztepe SK and Portuguese team Beira Mar Atlético Clube.
In October 2012, it was announced that Pozzo had offered to take over the then Championship side Watford, which was accepted by their board on November 4th, 2012.
In May 2013, it was announced that Gino Pozzo had offered to take over the then Premier League side Udinese Calcio. Udinese’s board officially approved the deal on June 18th. In July 2013, it was announced that Watford had ended their partnership with Udinese, as he had refused to sign the agreement between them and Watford.
On November 30th, 2013, it was announced that the Serie A club Reggina Calcio had raised an issue with the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) because Udinese had still not signed the agreement for Gino Pozzo to buy Udinese, as well as a deadline set by FIGC for this. The FIGC then gave Udinese a deadline to sign the deal, otherwise, they would be banned from playing in UEFA competitions.
On December 4th, 2013, Gino Pozzo officially completed his club takeover after signing purchase agreements.
In June 2014, he and his father purchased the English football club Watford FC from Laurence Bassini, with Gino Pozzo owning a majority stake. On July 29th, 2016, he bought Granada CF (to be managed by Francesco Guidolin) and Beira Mar Atlético Clube, which was relegated to the third tier due to irregularities. On August 7th, 2016, he bought Elche CF, which had been relegated to the third tier due to financial limitations. See this page to learn more.
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