Pablo Longoria

Pablo Fernández Longoria (born 9 June 1986) is a Spanish football executive. Since 26 February 2022, he has worked as 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. A supporter of Sporting Gijón, 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. In 2005 he gained work experience with the agent Eugenio Botas who works most notably with the Spanish manager Marcelino García Toral. Marcelino, as manager of Recreativo de Huelva (from 2005 to 2007) then of Racing Santander (from 2007 to 2008), relied on the analysis of the young Longoria while building his team. 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. At the same time, he began a career as a scout at the English club Newcastle United in November 2007. He didn't stay there very long however, before becoming head scout at Recreativo de Huelva 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. 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.