Gustavo Trímboli, the former coach of Independiente who sued FIFA for millions for plagiarism of a book and says that Julio Grondona "screwed me over"

Gustavo Trímboli is a graduate in journalism and a formative coach. He worked at Independiente as an advisor during the times of Pedro Iso and has been a regular visitor to the red stadium since the days of the Doble Visera. He is 57 years old and has been fighting against FIFA for a decade. He claims that the multinational soccer company plagiarized a book he wrote and that Julio Grondona was a necessary participant. There is a legal case in which the deceased president, the AFA and the Zurich-based organization were sued. It is in its final stage and could resolve a long-standing, multi-million-dollar conflict.

Yes, like Pablo Silva, the popular inventor of the spray used by referees , Trímboli resorted to the courts to fight against an international giant. “Grondona screwed me over,” he told Clarín . And he tells the story. “It all started in 2005, when I presented ‘Pediatrics in football’. It is a book that provides information on the basis of sports education at its inception and the following steps. Our idea was to provide work material for all those interested in learning how to manage football; in other words, it is a practical guide to train trainers of future footballers,” he explains.

“A month after the launch, I showed it to Grondona and he loved it. He congratulated me on its graphic quality and asked me for some copies to show in Zurich. It was a disruptive method that we had used in the football school and in the youth teams of Independiente,” he adds.

In 2011, Trímboli was invited by the then president of the AFA to an event where a revolutionary method of teaching children and youth and training in the world was to be presented. “To my surprise, I found that it was all the material from my book,” says the coach.

It was about 'Grassroots', FIFA's grassroots football manual, which was distributed in more than 120 countries around the world. By statute, the international organization is obliged to reinvest a sum of its profits in projects for the training of players and this book has a proven training program that works. The one that Trímboli claims is his, as he denounced in the Criminal Court No. 10 of the City of Buenos Aires.

“Grondona asked me for the book, he didn’t just swim to Switzerland. I asked him for it at the time. He was vice-president and financial manager of FIFA and they stole the idea from me. The cornerstone of ‘Grasshoots’ is my book,” emphasizes Trímboli. “Julio told me that he was going to travel to Zurich and that the problem was going to be resolved, that I should send a letter to Marco Villinger,” he adds. The trainer sent two copies via DHL and a note with the description of his talks with the then president of the AFA and vice-president of FIFA.

Villinger is the legal advisor of the Swiss-based organization and Grondona did, in fact, fly to Europe. He did so for Pope Francis' first year in the Vatican, in March 2013. At that point, Trímboli had already begun a winding judicial path in which there was a mediation in June 2012. FIFA, represented by Dr. Ricardo Richelet in Argentina, denied plagiarism . Don Julio died on July 30, 2014 and the matter was passed on to the Civil and Commercial Court No. 2 of the Judicial Department of Avellaneda-Lanús as a result of the succession of the president of the AFA. File number is No. 80172

It was not until 2021 that a judicial request was sent to the High Court of the Canton of Zurich with all the documentation. “The case is currently in the hearing to establish evidence. The expert will have to determine whether to ratify the ruling that is already in the criminal case of plagiarism and determine all the damages. We are in the final stage of a long trial,” Alejandro Trotta, Trímboli’s lawyer, told Clarín. If the court rules in favor of the former coach of the Independiente youth team, Grondona’s heirs, the AFA and FIFA should bear the costs.

In the documentary 'Written by the ball', from the YouTube channel 'The other part of football', Trímboli tells the story in the first person.