Prof Valter Di Salvo, PhD

Valter Di Salvo (born in Rome) is currently Director of Football Performance & Science with the Qatar Football Association and ASPIRE Academy and since 2002 full Professor at University of Rome “Foro Italico”. Since 2016 he has been appointed Head of the Performance and Research for the Italian Football Association.

Previously Prof. Di Salvo has previously held senior level positions at SS Lazio, Real Madrid CF and Manchester United FC.

Prof. Di Salvo was awarded a PhD in Sports Science in 2001 from the University of Lisbon, titled, ‘Training of Elite Football Players According to their Position Roles.’

Prof. Di Salvo’s career in football performance extends back to 1989 with “Serie A” club Lazio in Italy. He spent 14 years with the Rome-based club and worked under such illustrious coaches as Dino Zoff, Sven-Goran Eriksson, Alberto Zaccheroni and Roberto Mancini.

In 2003 Prof. Di Salvo was appointed Head Fitness Coach at Real Madrid before joining Sir Alex Ferguson’s staff at Manchester United where he spent 3 seasons.

From 2007 to 2009, he is back to Real Madrid CF as Director of Performance and Director of the Real Madrid TEC.

During his career, Prof. Di Salvo has worked with clubs that have won several titles including the Championship of Italian “Serie A”, the English “Premiership” and the Spanish “La Liga” in addition to various national and international Cups.

Prof. Di Salvo has trained top level players who have been awarded with the Gold Ball Player and FIFA World Player such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo da Lima, Pavel Nedved, Fabio Canavaro and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Prof. Di Salvo has also been the author of several scientific articles published in international journals and has been invited as a speaker and as a chairman, at a number of leading scientific congresses.