With almost two decades of experience across sports law, football governance and executive leadership, Ornella Desiree Bellia currently serves as FIFA’s Director of Professional Football Relations and Development. But when asked who she really is, her answer was simple. “So many people know me for my work in football,” said Bellia. “But if you ask me who I am, I’m someone who loves to have a simple life, someone who loves to wake up early, go for a walk in nature and just enjoy life.”
This message sits at the core of her debut book, The Game of Life, launched in New York City on the eve of the FIFA World Cup Final. “I started writing, I realized it was like a therapy and I decided to go on,” Ornella says. The book recounts her personal account of adversity and resilience, drawn from her years in international football and a life-changing cancer diagnosis in December 2020. At its core, the book is about resilience, faith, and the courage to redefine success when life takes an unexpected turn. “We are always looking into results, performance, and we should focus more on those things that are invisible, but they still are very important, like the human connection, being authentic in a world that asks to perform more and to achieve more.”
Proceeds from the book go to Common Goal, co-founded by Juan Mata, and to DEBRA Piel de Mariposa, a Spanish association supporting families of children with butterfly skin — causes that continue to inspire her. “We have to use… football as a force for good because it’s the most powerful tool we have also to change our little world,” reflects Ornella.
This is the conversation Ornella will bring to WFS Madrid 2026. When asked why she chose WFS as her platform, her answer was simple: “There are very special human beings behind the World Football Summit… and the book is a lot about human connections, so the answer is very easy for me.”
