Global Fútbol

LaLiga has 42 berths: 20 in LaLiga Santander and 22 in LaLiga SmartBank, the first and second divisions of Spain´s professional football, respectively. All these teams compete in optimal conditions for growing, developing and evolving, as they’re able to achieve this thanks to the exposure that LaLiga offers at all levels.

For the clubs that come up from the lower divisions, playing in LaLiga is a great leap forward. It’s not only because of the demands of the competition, but also because of the great opportunities these clubs encounter thanks to the level of visibility, the development of new projects, the increase in their social base or the brand enhancement opportunities. This year, Real Racing Club, FC Andorra, Albacete Balompié and Villarreal CF B are the four new members of Spain’s second division, who have come up dreaming of staying at this level and of continuing their global growth.

Real Racing Club: The return of a historic institution

Real Racing Club are a historic institution in Spanish football. One of the founding sides of LaLiga, the team from Santander have spent 44 seasons in the very top tier. Alfredo Pérez, the current club president, has explained that the objectives right now are about “reinforcing our brand image”.

As a social and economic engine in the region of Cantabria, the potential for this club is very high, just as it has been in the past. They believe that this return to LaLiga SmartBank has provided the perfect opportunity to regain national importance.

Moreover, they have important commercial objectives. “We are happy because almost all of the sponsors that helped us achieve promotion are continuing with Real Racing Club,” said Pérez, who wants to take advantage of the visibility of LaLiga to increase the volume in this area. “We have no doubt that we are the biggest platform for showcasing Cantabria.”

He also highlighted the social side of the Cantabrian club. He concluded: “Through the Foundation, Real Racing Club is a club that promotes football among children, a club that has collaboration agreements so that schoolchildren and teams from across the autonomous community can play on the pitches and a club that supports organisations that seek to improve the quality of life for the most disadvantaged.”

Albacete Balompié: Back in professional football just one year later

Another historic club nationally is Albacete Balompié. Ever since the 1990s, the club has been a significant player in professional football and now they’ve returned to this level just one year after dropping down a division.

Víctor Varela, the vice-president and CEO of the club, pointed out that the club’s most distinctive attribute is “a faithful representation of the values of the region of La Mancha, which means being close, humble, hardworking and honest, but also dreaming and aspiring to grow and be a source of pride for our community”.

The mission at Albacete Balompié is to make their supporters happy, which will require adaptation to the demands of professional football. According to Varela: “This forces you to evolve every day in all aspects, not only in the sporting department.” With this in mind, the club will try this season to increase turnover, improve communications through different channels and enhance the fan experience at their Carlos Belmonte Stadium.

FC Andorra: The debut of a unique club

FC Andorra are the only team based outside Spain competing in LaLiga, with this the first time this has ever happened. It is the result of an agreement reached between the Catalan and Spanish football federations in the club’s founding year of 1942. The Andorran club, ready for its first experience in the professional level, will look to take advantage of this opportunity to focus on the future, with aspirations of growth and differentiation.

Ferran Vilaseca, the president of the club, has pointed out that ambition isn’t incompatible with realism. He said: “We know who we are and where we come from and we have never stopped keeping our feet on the ground. We know that we’re reaching an increasingly difficult level, but we want to continue to impose our style of play and our way of doing things, which has already taken us this far.”

Off the pitch, they’re aware of the challenges that lie ahead. “This is the most important season in the club's 80 years of history”, according to Vilaseca, who has the task of consolidating FC Andorra’s position, structure and organisation so that the team can compete against opponents who he believes are “much stronger at this moment in time”.

To achieve this, the club plan to focus on institutional development, which will help them to keep up with the demands. On a social level, and as the leading team of the principality of Andorra, they’ll set out to increase the social base by attracting more fans. On a commercial level, they hope that the visibility provided by LaLiga will help to continue the progress that the club has been experiencing since the end of 2018, after the entry of Kosmos and Clayton into the ownership group of the club.

Villarreal CF B: A reward for the academy’s hard work

Villarreal CF’s youth academy is one of the most reputable in Spain, as evidenced by the fact their B team has a spot in the second division. They already played at this level before, but the B team had to go down to the third tier only because the first team were relegated into the second division in 2011/12. Now, 10 years later, the B team once again occupies a place in LaLiga SmartBank.

“It is very important for Villarreal CF to have the reserve team in the second tier of Spanish football,” Villarreal CF president Fernando Roig said. He continued: “This means that the step up to the first team is smaller, which allows you to bring in better players with greater potential for the future. It also means greater visibility of the B team’s matches, so our sponsors benefit.”

The sporting milestones of the club’s youth academy are closely related to the management structure. As Fernando Roig has pointed out, the main objective for this season is the same as always, which is “to train footballers and also people”. The philosophy at the club is to care as much about sporting values as sporting performance and this is what has led the club to the top of Spanish and European football.