Julio Humberto Grondona (born September 18, 1931) is an Argentine

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 football executive. He has served as president of the Argentine Football Association

Argentine Football Association

The Argentine Football Association is the governing body of football in Argentina. It organises the Argentine football league and the Argentina national football team. It is based in Buenos Aires...

 (Asociación del Fútbol Argentino) since 1979. He also serves as Senior Vice-President of FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

 (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).

Club Atlético Independiente

His campaign as leader of the Independiente began in 1962, when he was called to chair the subcommittee of professional football, in that role championships got the first division in 1963, the Libertadores Cup in 1964 and 1965 and the 1967 National Championship in 1970, after the defeat of the Red List in the election of the club, away from the institution to return to it in 1976, after winning the election defeating the ruling José Epelbóim, the then secretary of the club and sport responsible for professional football.

Grondona served as president of Club Atlético Independiente

Club Atlético Independiente

Club Atlético Independiente is an Argentine athletic, sports and social club, which has its headquarters and stadium in the city of Avellaneda, Buenos Aires Province. The club is best known for its football team, that plays in the Argentine Primera División....

, which is a fan club, where he won the National championships 1977 in Córdoba, facing a historic consecration Talleres, with eight players and National Champion 1978, in the final against River Plate. in 1979, and from that position he was picked to succeed Huracán's David Bracuto as head of AFA, immediately after Argentina's

Argentina national football team

The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...

 1978 FIFA World Cup

1978 FIFA World Cup

The 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...

 win.

Under Grondona's leadership, Argentina reached two World Cup finals (1986

1986 FIFA World Cup

The 1986 FIFA World Cup, the 13th FIFA World Cup, was held in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had been originally chosen to host the competition by FIFA but, largely due to economic reasons, was not able to do so and officially...

-Won and 1990

1990 FIFA World Cup

The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...

-Second), three Olympic finals (1996-Silver, 2004-Gold and 2008-Gold) and won six under-20 titles (1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2007).

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." On May 31, 2011, in an interview with German press, when asked about who he voted for to receive the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights Grondona said, "Yes, I voted for Qatar

Qatar

Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

, 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 Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

, which belong to us, you will get my vote. They then became sad and left."