Leonardo Grosso is the new president of FIFPro. The General Assembly of the worldwide players’ association for professional footballers appointed the Italian lawyer during the first of the two days of its General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday 10 November.

Grosso is the successor of Gerardo Movilla, who had to step down as President of FIFPro, after having handed over the presidency of the Spanish players’ association AFE in his own country to Luis Rubiales earlier this year .

Grosso has been active for FIFPro for many years as representative of the Italian players’ association AIC.  The 67-year old former goalkeeper of amongst others Genoa has been working for AIC since 1974 and is vice president of this organization for already 30 years. In 1992 he accepted a seat in the board of FIFPro, together with Gordon Taylor, Philippe Piat, Theo van Seggelen and Gerardo Movilla.

The political leadership of FIFPro is now in the hands of a threesome: president  Leonardo Grosso, vice president Philippe Piat and secretary general Theo van Seggelen.

‘For me it is a big honor to be the president of FIFPro’, Grosso said after the general assembly unanimously chose him as the new president. ‘My vision of the future is, that we have a lot of problems both financially and politically. We have got the worldwide crisis, which affects many footballers that do not receive their salaries.’

‘On a political level, we have got the smaller players’ associations still fighting for the establishment of a collective bargaining agreement in their country, and we’ve also got the bigger countries where leagues and clubs want to take away rights of the players; these leagues and clubs want to take a big step back.'

'Especially in Europe we have got a new battle going on. Moreover, what happens in Europe effects all footballers worldwide.’

‘Still, I don’t worry about those things’, Grosso continued. ’I am an optimistic person. We have got a good relationship with FIFA and UEFA; they can not ignore us anymore.’

Outgoing president Gerardo Movilla is very happy with his successor. ‘He is a very wise choice. Leo is a fantastic lawyer with a lot of knowledge in the field of football related jurisprudence. I am fully confident that he will fulfill his role as president of FIFPro with a great deal of enthusiasm. I wish him a great time ahead.’{jcomments on}