More than a business for men, football was a business for patriarchs. Especially in Italy, fiefdom of the Agnelli in Piedmont, the Berlusconi in Lombardy, the De Laurentiis in Naples, the Percassi in Bergamo or the Pozzo in Friuli. Of this last genealogy, the longest of those that remain at the head of Serie A sports societies, Giampaolo Pozzo is the founder. The owner of Udinese Calcio for four decades is the father of Magda Pozzo (Udine, 57 years old), commercial director of the club and responsible for promoting the most advanced and innovative eco-sustainable project in Italian football. A rare case, beyond gender. On Saturday this entrepreneur will lead the Udinese delegation to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Baku.
Ask. What does it mean to be a leader and a woman in an industry as sexist as Italian football?
Answer. I started in Casals power tools, a leader in the sector in Spain. The tool industry was very sexist. I think I was the only woman. I am very well trained!
P. Has sports management definitively been opened to women?
R. I tell my 21-year-old daughter: “If you want to enter the world of sports management, this is the time.” It is not easy because it is very demanding. We don’t have hours here. But very important access is being given to women. We see it in UEFA and FIFA.
P. Why turn a football team into a laboratory of ecological ideas?
R. I have had many friends in the fashion industry. They are pioneers in recycling materials and sustainability. I thought: “Why not take advantage of football and its diffusion to convey the great message?” So we started by asking Macron—our kit manufacturer—to make us uniforms from recycled material. For them it was a surprise, but since then they make them for 200 other teams around the world. We start with clothing and continue with energy. In January we will inaugurate the first stadium with a solar park in Italy. With 2,000 solar panels on match days we will be self-sufficient without producing emissions. Just like the Tottenham stadium in the Premier.
P. What does Serie A need to compete with the hegemony of the Premier?
R. In Spain, impressive work has been done to build new stadiums. In this, Serie A is copying the format of the League along with the possibility of making fields with a model analogous to that of the United States, where the stadiums are cultural and entertainment assets, not only connected to the day of the match. What Real Madrid is trying is what we are all trying to do: that the stadiums have activity 365 days a year. We try to make the stadium a community. We have 20,000 square meters attached to develop schools, music schools, gyms, open sports halls… We want the Udine stadium to be a unity pole.
P. To what extent can Italy’s great clubs, representatives of ancient cities, function only as companies?
R. People have to understand that a club is a company that must make profits to survive, and not just billing on the day of the match. But the clubs also have a social mission. We have to be present in everything we can do to improve the quality of life in our communities. When a person joins our administrative team, we warn them that for families this life is complicated: “Remember that football is not a profession, it is a mission.” We work every day of the week. Every month of the year. This summer we organized a large football camp to educate children to be sustainable, teaching them things like avoiding the use of plastic packaging. Our players use metal canteens!
