Julio Humberto Grondona (September 18, 1931 – July 30, 2014) was an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

executive. He served as president of the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association ( es, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine league system (from Primera División to Tor ...

(''Asociación del Fútbol Argentino'') from 1979 until his death in 2014. He also served as Senior Vice-President of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

(''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'').

Biography

Arsenal Fútbol Club

Julio Grondona's career in football began in 1956, when he and his brother Héctor founded Arsenal Fútbol Club, inspired by the homonymous English side, in Sarandí,

Avellaneda Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is conne ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. The team's colours, light blue and red, were chosen because of two different reasons. The light blue represents the sky and the red stripe, is in honor to Julio's grandfather, who was a fan of River plate. Grondona was president of the club for nearly twenty years, from 1957 to 1976, when he was elected president of

Club Atlético Independiente Club Atlético Independiente () is an Argentine professional sports club, which has its headquarters and stadium in the city of Avellaneda in Greater Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera Divisi ...

. Under his leadership the club was promoted from the lowest rank in the

Argentine football league system The Argentine football league system include tournaments organised by the Argentine Football Association. Clubs affiliated to the body compete in the tournaments, which are split into categories or divisions. Rules establish a system of promotion ...

, the

Primera D The Primera D is one of two leagues that form the fifth division of the Argentine football league system. Made up of 11 clubs from Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is ...

, in 1962 and once again in 1964, when the team won the

Primera C The Primera C Metropolitana is one of the two professional leagues that form the fourth level of the Argentine football league system. Primera C Metropolitana is made up of 20 clubs mainly from the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area ( G ...

title.

Club Atlético Independiente

While holding the river plate presidency, he also held positions in neighboring club Independiente, where he was elected as chair of the professional football subcommittee in 1962. While he was in that role, the team won the

1963 Argentine Primera División The 1963 Argentine Primera División was the 72nd season of top-flight football in Argentina. The season began on April 28 and ended on November 24.Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

in 1964 and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

and the Campeonato Nacional in 1967. In 1970 his ''Lista Roja'' lost the club's elections, and he left the club until his return as president in 1976, when he defeated the ruling José Epelbóim in the elections. Under Grondona, Independiente won the 1977 Campeonato Nacional in Córdoba against locals Talleres with eight players on the pitch, and the 1978 Campeonato Nacional, beating River Plate in the final.

Argentine Football Association

In 1979 Grondona was elected to succeed

Huracán Huracan (; es, Huracán; myn, Hunraqan, "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating hu ...

's David Bracuto as head of the

, immediately after Argentina's

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

win. During his tenure Argentina reached three World Cup finals (all of them against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, winning in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

and losing in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

), three Olympic finals (obtaining the silver medal in

Atlanta 1996 The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta ...

and gold in

Athens 2004 The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

and

Beijing 2008 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

) and won six FIFA U-20 World Cups ( 1979,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanist ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

and

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

Death

Grondona died of an

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. They usually cause no symptoms except when ruptured. Occasionally, there may be abdominal, back, or leg pain. The prevalence of abdominal aorti ...

at the age of 82 on July 30, 2014 at

, Argentina

Controversy

Grondona caused controversy in 2003 when, in response to a journalist's question about referee standards in Argentina, he said: "I do not believe a Jew can ever be a referee at this level. It's hard work and you know, Jews don't like hard work." In another incident, he went on record saying "Jews don't like it when it gets rough." On May 31, 2011, in an interview with German press, when asked about who he voted for to receive the

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and 2030 World Cup hosting rights Grondona said, "Yes, I voted for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

, because a vote for the US would be like a vote for England, and that is not possible '' ..' But with the English bid I said: Let us be brief. If you give back the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands), which belong to us, you will get my vote. They then became sad and left." Grondona later apologized for his attack on England. In 2014 his son, Humberto, a FIFA official, admitted illegally selling tickets for games at the World Cup in Brazil. On June 2, 2015, FIFA blamed Julio Grondona for approving, in 2007, corrupt payments at the center of the United States Department of Justice investigation known as FIFA-gate that led to the 47-count indictment against soccer officials and sports marketing executives.

In popular culture

Luis Margani portrayed Grondona in the 2020

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

original series '' El Presidente''.

References

External links

"Homenaje del Comité Ejecutivo de la AFA a Julio Grondona" at AFA website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grondona, Julio 1931 births 2014 deaths Arsenal de Sarandí Argentine football chairmen and investors FIFA officials Argentine people of Italian descent Presidents of the Argentine Football Association