Pedro Mendonça Pinto () (born 28 January 1975) is a Portuguese- American journalist and communications professional. Currently he is the founder and CEO of a sports communications agency called Empower Sports*. Previously, he worked as managing director of communications at

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

in Switzerland. Pinto was also a sports anchor for

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

in Atlanta and London, covering the world’s highest profile events, including

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

, hosting the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

in which his home country hosted, and UEFA Champions League finals.

Early life

Pinto was born in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

, Portugal. While growing up in Portugal, he attended St. Julian's School in Carcavelos and later graduated from American International School of Lisbon. He eventually moved to the United States and graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

at Charlotte with a bachelor's in communications and marketing. He also earned a degree from the Carolina School of Broadcasting. While at UNCC, he worked for three years as a sportswriter and won the "Sportswriter of the Year" award in 1999. Whilst studying in America, he also had internships with the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

’s Charlotte Hornets and the

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

channel in North Carolina.

Broadcasting career

Pinto started his career with RTP in 1996, hosting a series of cartoon programmes including '' Hugo''. It was at RTP where he earned the opportunity to host the news show ''Caderno Diário,'' where he specialized in sports. In 1998 he was hired by

to become a sports anchor and correspondent based in Atlanta, Georgia. Pinto was one of the hosts of the global sports show “World Sport” and in his role he also had the opportunity to cover a multitude of events, including the

and several

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

finals. In 2003, Pinto decided to return home and went on to anchor the program Últimas Notícias on Sport TV. Pinto stayed until November 2006 when he received an invitation to return to CNN, this time as a sports anchor and reporter in London. Pinto has interviewed various top sports personalities including Ronaldo,

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime at A.C. Milan, AC Mil ...

, Robinho,

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix (; born 26 January 1963) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Süper Lig club Fenerba ...

Roger Federer Roger Federer ( , ; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 3 ...

Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for ...

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

and

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

. He continued to anchor the ''CNN World Sport'' show and later also hosted a new football programme called ''CNN FC''. He occasionally appears on the Guardian football podcast '' Football Weekly''. Since 2018, Pinto presents all UEFA Champions League coverage for the ELEVEN Network in Portugal. Initially he was also hired as non-executive director but gave up the role and is now responsible only for leading the network’s programs connected with Europe’s top club competition.

UEFA and FIFA work

Pinto left CNN in 2013 to take the job of Chief of Press at

, working directly with President

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

. He was then promoted to Managing Director of Communications, serving under the new president Aleksander Ceferin and now hosts all UEFA competition draws since 2016-17. Whilst in this role, Pinto oversaw the press office, corporate communications, and all digital platforms for UEFA. He also created the #EqualGame campaign which aimed to promote diversity and inclusion and featured several international stars including Cristiano Ronaldo, Leo Messi and Paul Pogba. Pinto has hosted several

draws and awards since 2005. He also hosted the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year awards ceremony in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, alongside Charlotte Jackson and the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or with Carol Manana. He hosted the

final tournament draw on November 30, 2003. On 30 November 2019, Pinto co-hosted the

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

final tournament draw with Corina Caragea in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

and repeated this role in the UEFA Euro 2024 final tournament draw with Esther Sedlaczek in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Personal life

Pinto currently lives in Lisbon and is the founder and CEO of Empower Sports. His communications agency works with various players, coaches, clubs and federations. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Pedro 1975 births American expatriates in Switzerland American expatriates in the United Kingdom American male journalists American people of Portuguese descent American sports journalists American television reporters and correspondents CNN people Living people Naturalized citizens of the United States People from Lisbon Portuguese expatriates in Switzerland Portuguese expatriates in the United Kingdom Portuguese male journalists University of North Carolina at Charlotte alumni