# Dmitry Piterman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dmitry_Piterman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dmitry_Piterman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Piterman > Source revision: 1356956435 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Ukrainian-American businessman (born 1963)}} '''Dmitry Piterman''' ({{langx|uk|Дмитро Пітерман}}; born 18 December 1963) is a Ukrainian-American businessman. He owned Spanish [La Liga](/source/La_Liga) football clubs [Racing de Santander](/source/Racing_de_Santander) and [Deportivo Alavés](/source/Deportivo_Alav%C3%A9s) in the 2000s. ==Early years== Piterman was born to a [Jewish](/source/Jews) family in [Odessa](/source/Odessa), in the [Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic](/source/Ukrainian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic) of the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union). Eight of his father's brothers were killed by the Nazis in World War II.{{cite news |last1=Ball |first1=Phil |title=Dimitri sparring |url=https://www.wsc.co.uk/the-archive/923-Europe/2511-dimitri-sparring |accessdate=16 March 2020 |work=[When Saturday Comes](/source/When_Saturday_Comes) |date=May 2003}} At the age of 15 his family emigrated to the United States, settling in [California](/source/California) where he attended college at [UC Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley), excelling in sports – including [triple jump](/source/triple_jump), later narrowly failing qualification for the [1992 Summer Olympics](/source/1992_Summer_Olympics) in [Barcelona](/source/Barcelona).[http://www.elperiodicomediterraneo.com/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=25355 El hombre de las mil caras (The man of a thousand faces)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085656/http://www.elperiodicomediterraneo.com/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=25355|date=19 July 2011}}; El Periódico Mediterráneo, 2 December 2002 (in Spanish) ==Football career== Piterman relocated to Spain in 1991, immediately buying two [football](/source/Association_football) clubs: amateurs Tossa Sport and [fourth division](/source/Tercera_Divisi%C3%B3n) side [Palamós CF](/source/Palam%C3%B3s_CF), with the latter promoting to the [third level](/source/Segunda_Divisi%C3%B3n_B) under his ownership in 2002. Three years earlier he had been elected club president and had his firsthand at coaching in spite of not being qualified to do so. In January 2003, while still president at Palamós, Piterman bought 24% of [Racing de Santander](/source/Racing_de_Santander)'s shares, thus reaching [La Liga](/source/La_Liga). He insisted on being his team's manager, which granted him disciplinary action from the [Royal Spanish Football Federation](/source/Royal_Spanish_Football_Federation) for being in the technical area, which he sometimes eluded by being accredited as a journalist or photographer.[https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/2709251.stm Funny old round-up]; [BBC Sport](/source/BBC_Sport), 30 January 2003 When criticised for wanting to manage the club despite a lack of experience and qualifications as such, he mentioned how [George W. Bush](/source/George_W._Bush) was allowed to be in office as [President of the United States](/source/President_of_the_United_States). After a brief spell in [handball](/source/Team_handball), also in Cantabria, Piterman bought a 51% controlling stake in [Deportivo Alavés](/source/Deportivo_Alav%C3%A9s) in July 2004,{{cite news |title=Piterman ya controla el Alavés y trae varios fichajes, como Bodipo|trans-title=Piterman now controls Alavés and brings several signings, such as Bodipo |url=https://as.com/futbol/2004/07/12/mas_futbol/1089583206_850215.html |accessdate=16 March 2020 |work=Diario AS |date=12 July 2004 |language=Spanish}} helping it return to the topflight in [his first season](/source/2004%E2%80%9305_Segunda_Divisi%C3%B3n), with Cos now acting as [director of football](/source/director_of_football). The American's spell in the [Basque Country](/source/Basque_Country_(autonomous_community)) was also a rocky one, with three coaches being used during the [2005–06 campaign](/source/2005%E2%80%9306_La_Liga), which ended in relegation, the dismissals occurring when the managers refused to accept his interferences and impositions.[http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/91528/0/piterman/oliva/alaves/ Piterman se carga a Juan Carlos Oliva por "insubordinación" (Piterman ousts Juan Carlos Oliva for "insubordination")]; [20 minutos](/source/20_minutos), 16 February 2006 (in Spanish) Clashes also occurred with the club's players[http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/178817/0/futbol/alaves/peterman/ Carreras denuncia el "trato vejatorio" de Piterman (Carreras denounces "vexatious treatment" by Piterman)]; 20 minutos, 1 December 2006 (in Spanish)[http://futbol.as.com/futbol/2006/05/17/mas_futbol/1147847263_850215.html Piterman llama gordo y borracho a Óscar Téllez (Piterman calls Óscar Tellez fat and drunkard)]; [Diario AS](/source/Diario_AS), 17 May 2006 (in Spanish) and fans alike.[http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/93279/0/piterman/aficionados/subnormales/ Dimitri Piterman llama "subnormales" a los aficionados del Alavés (Dimitri Piterman calls Alavés' fans "morons")]; 20 minutos, 22 February 2006 (in Spanish) Piterman left a debt in the Alavés of more than 25 million euros (35 million USD), and fled the country leaving the team on the verge of bankruptcy.[http://archivo.marca.com/edicion/marca/futbol/2a_division/alaves/es/desarrollo/1067330.html La deuda del Alavés es de casi 28 millones de euros (Alavés almost 28 million euros in debt)]; [Marca](/source/Marca_(newspaper)), 11 December 2007 (in Spanish) The Cos/Piterman tandem appeared in 126 matches in [Spanish football](/source/Football_in_Spain), winning 63, drawing 29 and losing 34. In 2006, he purchased a [USL First Division](/source/USL_First_Division) franchise in [San Francisco, California](/source/San_Francisco%2C_California), the [California Victory](/source/California_Victory); it folded in one year, after he had already sold his stake of Alavés.[http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=265ea20f-377d-43c9-af44-fc21fdad7f73&k=87318 Whitecaps soccer league loses team] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071125062016/http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=265ea20f-377d-43c9-af44-fc21fdad7f73&k=87318|date=25 November 2007}}; Canada.com, 20 November 2007 ==References== {{reflist|2}} {{authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Piterman, Dmitry}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Jews from Odesa Category:Soviet emigrants to the United States Category:Jewish American sports executives and administrators Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:American masters athletes Category:American soccer chairmen and investors Category:Deportivo Alavés Category:Racing de Santander Category:California Victory Category:American emigrants to Spain Category:California Golden Bears men's track and field athletes Category:21st-century American Jews Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dmitry Piterman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Piterman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitry_Piterman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.