Pedro Pinto
Pedro Mendonça Pinto (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpedɾu mẽˈdõsɐ ˈpĩtu]) (born 28 January 1975 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese American journalist.[1] He was a sports anchor for CNN International based in Atlanta and London, England. He is currently the Chief of Press at UEFA in Switzerland.
Early life
Pinto graduated from the University of North Carolina in Charlotte with a degree in communications and marketing and also earned a degree from the Carolina School of Broadcasting. While at UNCC he worked for three years as a sports writer and won the "Sports Writer of the Year" award in 1999. He also had internships with the NBA and MSNBC in Charlotte.
While he was growing up in Portugal, he went to St. Julian's School, in Carcavelos, and later graduated from AISL (American International School of Lisbon) in Sintra.
Broadcasting career
Pedro 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. Pinto got his big break in 1998 when he was hired by CNN to become a sports anchor and correspondent. He stayed in Atlanta, Georgia until 2003 and had the opportunity to cover many elite sports events like the 2002 FIFA World Cup and multiple Champions League 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 in London.
During the next seven years, Pinto covered all of Europe's major sporting events and interviewed the world's top athletes. Over his career Pinto has interviewed many huge international sports personalities such as Ronaldo, Kaká, Robinho, José Mourinho, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Alex Ferguson, Pelé and Novak Djokovic. [2]
He continued to anchor CNN World Sport show and later also hosted a new football programme called "CNN FC". He occasionally appears on the popular Guardian football podcast Football Weekly.
Pedro Pinto left CNN World Sport as anchor after 15 Years on the air to take the job of Chief of Press at UEFA, working directly with the President Michel Platini.
UEFA and FIFA work
Pinto hosted the UEFA Champions League Draws, where he delivered the best player of the year awards for nine years running.
He also hosted the 2009 FIFA World Player of the Year Awards Ceremony in Zürich, Switzerland alongside Charlotte Jackson and the 2010 FIFA Ballon d'Or with Carol Manana.[3]
References
- ↑ "Distinguished Americans & Canadians of Portuguese Descent". Archived from the original on 8 November 2006. Retrieved 9 January 2008.
- ↑ Series about the world tennis stars "Open Court"
- ↑ Messi and Marta on top of the world (FIFA.com) 21 December 2009