Pablo Longoria

Pablo Longoria
Longoria in 2024
President of Olympique de Marseille
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 February 2021
Preceded by	Jacques-Henri Eyraud
Personal details
Born	Pablo Fernández Longoria (1986-06-09) 9 June 1986 (age 37) Oviedo, Spain
Occupation	Football scout, sports club director

Pablo Fernández Longoria (born 9 June 1986)^[1] is a Spanish football executive. He is since 26 February 2021, the President of Olympique de Marseille, succeeding Jacques-Henri Eyraud.

Early life and career

Born in Oviedo, Pablo Longoria began at 12 to watch football matches every day as a hobby.^[2] A supporter of Sporting Gijón,^[3] he enjoys video games such as FIFA 2000 and Football Manager and gained from them a deep knowledge of players and tactical aspects of football.^[4] In 2005 he gained work experience with the agent Eugenio Botas who works most notably with the Spanish manager Marcelino. Marcelino, as manager of Recreativo (from 2005 to 2007) then of Racing Santander (from 2007 to 2008), relied on the analysis of the young Longoria while building his team.^[5][4]

Career

Longoria began his career as a media consultant with Radio Marca after having been spotted by the journalist Axel Torres on the forum Soccerole.com, which he led.^[6] At the same time, he began a career as a scout at the English club Newcastle United in November 2007.^[7] He didn't stay there very long however, before becoming head scout at Recreativo in February 2009. He later revealed that he wished to hire the Portuguese manager André Villas-Boas as head coach at the club. Villas-Boas signed instead with Académica de Coimbra.^[8]

In December 2010, he became a scout at Atalanta, then in the Italian Serie B. After 3 years at the club, he joined Sassuolo in July 2013 as head scout, before joining Juventus in August 2015. Notably, he was the origin of the decision to sign the Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur.^[9][5]

Longoria, who can speak six languages (Spanish, French, English, Italian, Portuguese and German), became sporting director of Valencia in February 2018. Famous for his work, he has said that he watches seven or eight matches of football most days.^[10]

Marseille

Longoria was named sporting director of French club Marseille (OM) on 26 July 2020, succeeding his compatriot Andoni Zubizarreta.^[9][11] He initially declared his intention to work for the club for five years, with the objective of stabilizing Marseille as one of the 20 best European clubs.^[12][13] Later however he stated that he wanted to stay at Marseille for a long time, making it his “last great adventure”.^[14] During his time at the club, he invested in youth, bringing in players such as the Brazilian Luis Henrique, and heightening the clubs scouting reach in Africa.^{[citation needed]}

On 26 February 2021, he was named president of Marseille with responsibility for the financial and sporting sectors of the club.^[15] Longoria became the youngest president of the club since 1909.^[16] He brought in Jorge Sampaoli to succeed Nasser Larguet, the interim manager following the departure of André Villas-Boas.^[17] In July 2022, Sampaoli left the club by mutual consent, and was replaced by Igor Tudor.^[18] Tudor would go on to stay only one season at OM,^[19] and was succeeded by Longoria's former colleague Marcelino, who himself only lasted three months before resigning. Marcelino quit due to fans' groups reportedly "threatening" the club's hierarchy during a meeting with club staff.^[20] In an interview with La Provence, Longoria stated that "it is not normal for a football director to be threatened". Accused by supporters of lining his pockets with the club's money, Longoria asked owner Frank McCourt's group McCourt Global to conduct an investigation to prove his innocence.^[21] On 22 September, Longoria confirmed his intention to remain as the president of OM.^[22]

References