Who is Champions League draw host Pedro Pinto?
The UEFA Champions League draw is an annual event that determines the group stages and subsequent matches for the upcoming season.
Pedro Pinto hosts the annual draw with British sportswriter and broadcaster Reshmin Chowdhury.
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Who is Pedro Pinto?
Pedro Pinto is a sports journalist and presenter.
He was born on January 28, 1975 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Pinto moved to the United States to study and graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Communications and Marketing.
After graduating, Pinto began his career as a TV presenter, hosting programs in Portugal.
Eventually he got a job as a sports anchor and correspondent at CNN International, for which he relocated to Atlanta, Georgia.
After a brief return to Portuguese television, Pinto took on another role at CNN, this time in London.
In this job, he interviewed major sports stars such as tennis legends Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, as well as soccer pros Sir Alex Ferguson and Pelé.
In addition to his career as a presenter, Pinto is also a businessman.
He is the founder and CEO of Empower Sports, a sports communications agency with offices in Lisbon, London and São Paulo.
As of August 2023, Pinto has served as Founder, CEO and Communications Director at Empower Sports, as well as Broadcaster and Executive Producer at ELEVEN SPORTS HQ.
Pinto is fluent in Portuguese, English and Spanish, and has what he says has a “good basic knowledge” of French LinkedIn.
What does Pedro Pinto do at UEFA?
In 2013, Pinto left CNN for a second time, this time to take up the post of press officer at UEFA.
The following year he was appointed head of communications and media, and in 2017 he was promoted to UEFA’s chief communications officer.
In this last role, he acted as the organization’s official spokesman and oversaw editorial content across all of UEFA’s digital and social media platforms.
Despite stepping down from his position as Managing Director of Communications in 2018, Pinto has stayed with UEFA and still hosts the Champions League draws.
The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage draw was due to take place on Thursday 31 August.
The Grimaldi Forum in Monaco was confirmed as the venue.
