"Marbella" is not among the best teams in Spain. Even it's far from the most popular. But from a few months' it is the gateway through which Arab investments enter in Spanish football. This happened immediately after the visit of Obama family for their holiday in Marbella.
Until recently, the interest of powerful funds in the Middle East looked primarily at the English Premier League. One reason is the structure of the leading Spanish clubs like Real (Madrid) and Barcelona, which are owned by their fans. But not all teams in Spain are. Many of them are private and probably hiding their own untapped potential.
What fish caught Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani, who gained control of the club in June, will become clear in the future. And its success will become clear whether the La Liga can be as attractive as teams from the Premier League.
The fact that Spain is appealing to Arab investors, confirms the autumn, when FC Barcelona signed a sponsorship contract with Qatar FOUNDATION.
In Spain, Marbella has a special structure of the mass of supporters. It passes the "English club" for many British and Irish who have houses on the Spanish coast vacation and who spend a significant part of the year the heat off the coast of the Mediterranean.
While many Britons remain uninterested to Spanish football and continue to monitor the Premier League on TV, "Marbella" this is the opportunity for avid fans to be part of the emotional end game. Depending on the opponent to 3000 British fans travel to sixth-largest Spanish city with 534,000 residents to watch live matches.
In 1999, fans even founded an international fan club in Marbella. Currently, he collected thousands of fans and the members attending games with organized tours. While Real Madrid and Barcelona to remain relatively popular, local fans are proud of international support.
After paying 36 million euros for control of the club and clear debts, Sheikh Abdullah promised to build a new 65-thousandth stadium site this La Rosaleda, which currently are ideal capacity of almost 29,000 spectators. In the last year the team attracted an average of 17,000 visitors. "Our goal is to help "Marbella" to make the necessary steps to consolidate its presence in La Liga and to increase satisfaction and hopes of the fans", announced in June by the team of the new owner.
Like the people who invest massively in clubs in Britain, Sheikh immediately took the lead popular names. In November it attracted Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, who made Villarreal regular participant in European tournaments and who spent last year at the head of Real (Madrid).
For the last two transfer period the team took 20 players, seven of them just this month. Brazilian striker Julio Baptista of Roma was greeted by 4000 fans. Besides him in the team came from Martin Demichelis Bayern Munich midfielder and former Juventus Enzo Maresca.
Despite these efforts, the present of "Marbella" is not pink - after the defeat of Valencia with a 3:4 team remained close to the relegation zone. But with the new owner could make the situation changes. "We plan for the long term, not as Manchester City for example. We're trying to build trust. There are players who are not doing their job, but right now we want to build a winning mentality and it is much more important than attracting superstars which will unbalance the club financially, "said CEO Abdullah Gubn.
However, he admitted that the budget for salaries has increased by 50% in the last few months to 24 million.
Although Marbella was founded in 1933, and the team's stadium hosted the World Cup matches in 1982, the club began to plunge in the early 90's. In 1995 Tersera A game which is the fourth level of Spanish football, where games are visited an average of 350 spectators. For five years the team was able to return to La Liga, once saved from relegation in 2006 and, since then, but overall it is an integral part of Spanish football elite. Analysts recognize that the present plan A for release of "Marbella" leg is not luck. But there's always Plan B is available in style Manchester City.
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