Ivan Gazidis (born 13 September 1964) is a South African-Greek business executive and former footballer who is currently the President of Kilmer Sports Ventures. He previously held an executive position at Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. He has been the president of the

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

since the purchase of the club by Kilmer Sports Ventures..

Biography

Of Greek origin, Gazidis was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

, South Africa. At the age of 4, he moved to the United Kingdom and later attended independent Manchester Grammar School and

St Edmund Hall St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the last ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where he was twice awarded a

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...

playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

against

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

in 1984 and 1985. He graduated with a degree in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

in 1986 and in 1992 he moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to work for

Latham & Watkins Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2022, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...

. In 1994, he joined the founding management team of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, becoming in 2001 its deputy commissioner. He oversaw MLS's key strategic and business decisions and its marketing arm,

Soccer United Marketing Soccer United Marketing is the for-profit marketing arm of Major League Soccer which primarily deals with the commercialization, marketing, promotion and operational execution of professional soccer in the United States. The promotion also owns b ...

, of which he was president. He also helped promote the

Mexican Football Federation The Mexican Football Federation (), abbreviated as FMF is the official governing body of football in Mexico. It administers the men's and women's national teams with all its youth teams, the national teams of futsal and beach soccer, Liga MX wit ...

and the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

. In November 2008 Gazidis accepted the post of chief executive of Arsenal, a post he formally took up from 1 January 2009. He succeeded former managing director Keith Edelman and was expected to take over many of the roles formerly undertaken by ex-vice-chairman

David Dein David Barry Dein (born 7 September 1943) is a British businessman, known for being a former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal, as well as founding the Premier League. Dein was vice-chairman of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007, and was instru ...

. In 2017–18, he oversaw significant personnel changes at the top of the club in preparation for then manager Arsene Wenger's departure, which was announced in April 2018. Gazidis spearheaded the search for a new Manager, eventually hiring

Unai Emery Unai Emery Etxegoien (born 3 November 1971) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa. He is widely regarded as o ...

in May. Upon announcing his departure, it was revealed his successors would be Vinai Venkatesham as Managing Director, and Raul Sanllehi as head of football. On 18 September 2018, Gazidis announced that he would be leaving Arsenal to join

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. He took up the role on 1 December 2018. During January 2019 transfer window, he opted to terminate

Gonzalo Higuain Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also * Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguation) * ...

's loan deal six months in advance. He approved the transfers of

Krzysztof Piątek Krzysztof Piątek (; born 1 July 1995) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Qatar Stars League club Al Duhail and the Poland national team. Piątek began his professional career with Ekstraklasa club Zagłębie Lubin ...

and

Lucas Paquetá Lucas Tolentino Coelho de Lima (born 27 August 1997), better known as Lucas Paquetá (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays either as an attacking midfielder or winger for club West Ham United and the Brazil national team. Paq ...

, both carried out by Leonardo. In his first season as the club's CEO, the team finished fifth in

, which was its best result in six years. And just two seasons after, the team finished second in Serie A season 2020-2021; making them qualify to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since season 2012–2013. The next season A.C. Milan won the Serie A for the first time in 11 years. On 3 June 2024, Kilmer Group acquired

through Kilmer Sports Ventures (KSV). This marked Ivan Gazidis's return to

. As president of Kilmer Sports Ventures, Gazidis presides over

and is supported by Huss Fahmy and Jaeson Rosenfeld, who serve as executive vice-presidents overseeing football operations for KSV. The three previously worked together at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Personal life

Gazidis is married and has two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gazidis, Ivan 20th-century English lawyers South African people of Greek descent White South African people Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Major League Soccer executives Arsenal F.C. directors and chairmen 1964 births Living people Oxford University A.F.C. players People associated with Latham & Watkins AC Milan directors South African men's soccer players Men's association football players not categorized by position Lawyers from Manchester South African emigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century South African sportsmen