Ranked 20th out of 22
In April 2013, moving into the semi-finals of the Champions League was within reach for FC Málaga. But because the hosts turned the game around with two goals in added time in the second leg of the quarterfinals at Borussia Dortmund, BVB went into the next round and not the Spaniards. Since then there has been little sign of the “premier class”: Málaga is in its fifth season in LaLiga2 ten years after the game in the Westfalenstadion and is now even threatening to be relegated to the third division.
That almost happened in the pre-season, with Málaga having sat just above the relegation zone in all of their last ten games, with a two-point lead ultimately enough to keep them up. This season, however, relegation seems to be getting closer: After the 2-1 draw at FC Villarreal B on Friday, the deficit to the saving bank is five points with seven games to go. The direct competition can still catch up on the 35th matchday.
But how could this crash come about for Málaga? The origin of this lies in the summer of 2010, when the Qatari Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani took over the majority of the club for a reported 36 million euros and ensured the most successful phase in the club’s history in no time at all. The club narrowly escaped going into the second division in the season before entering the second division, but managed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in the second year after Al Thani took over. The owner took money into his hands for this – a lot of money from the point of view of the club, which never dealt with such amounts on the transfer market. In any case, Málaga was more of a middle-class club.
In the first year, 25 million euros were spent on new players, in the second it was even 59 million euros. The additions included the Santi Cazorla, Isco and Joaquín from Spain, the HSV duo Joris Mathijsen and Ruud van Nistelrooy and Munich’s Martín Demichelis. Málaga did not generate any revenue from player sales during this period. Coach Manuel Pellegrini, who previously coached Real Madrid, also became part of the project. Under him, the newly formed team first finished eleventh, then fourth and sixth in the third year – after that his tenure ended, as did Malaga’s soaring tide. There were already indications that this would happen.
Because as fast as Al Thani went up, it should go down again as fast. It is said that the owner pumped a total of 150 million euros into the club – until he stopped, almost overnight. Since the beginning of the 2012/13 season, long before the Champions League duels with BVB, and to this day no new money has flowed into the club’s treasury. Al Thani’s plan was “unannounced and seemingly without reason,” wrote Die Zeit. At the time, Brazilian defender Weligton said: “We all expected more signings, more surprises. But now we don’t know why this is all coming to an end.”
Malaga FC: Open proceedings against owner Al Thani
After the owner’s withdrawal, Málaga was forced to go on an austerity course. Missing salary payments were also an issue. Instead of further expensive investments on the transfer market, there were transfers on a free transfer or on loan and top performers had to be used for revenue, ultimately in the 2012/13 season there was income of around 42 million euros from player sales. Players like Cazorla, Mathijsen or van Nistelrooy were already gone when Málaga played well in the “premier class”. To date it will be the last international appearance for the Andalusians, who qualified for the 2013/14 Europa League, but a one-year ban from UEFA for financial fair play violations did the rest.
Fati to Pedri: The most valuable Spaniards
Despite the hustle and bustle, Málaga stayed in the top flight for another five years, quite passably, until 2018, when they were relegated to the second division. A return to the upper house would have been successful almost immediately, but it was over in the promotion playoffs. Since then, Málaga has been staggering down one floor towards the descent. At the end of 2019, it became too much for the small shareholders, and they officially filed a complaint against Al Thani – allegations included breach of trust, money laundering and mismanagement. Today there is talk that Al Thani owes the club €9m.
After the advance, Al Thani was stripped of the management of the club by court order in February 2020, and Málaga has been run by a receiver since then. Tough measures followed promptly: Málaga fired almost all licensed players in the first summer to relieve the salary structure. A club statement said the club was being forced to “make difficult decisions”. In addition, the plan aims to “get the club out of the complicated financial situation”. The year before, Málaga had already struggled with the league’s upper salary limit, and the ex-Bundesliga professionals Shinji Okazaki and José Rodríguez, among others, could not be registered. While Okazaki canceled his contract that summer and moved on, Rodríguez was loaned out in the winter before finally leaving the club for the new season. Neither played a game for Malaga.
Although Al Thani was stripped of the club management, three years later it is still unclear what exactly will happen to his shares. “There are open proceedings against Al Thani, they are the big problem in Malaga. As long as these have not been clarified, no new investor can come on board, ”explains sports journalist Fabian Pakulat from the German-language portal “Costa del Sol” to Transfermarkt. Al Thani could get his shares back if he pays off his debts, but it also needs to be clarified how many shares he actually owns. “When Al Thani retired in 2013, he had found a new partner in the Bluebay hotel chain. They had probably agreed that Bluebay would take over 47 percent of the shares. Al Thani denies this afterwards, because it would mean that his shares are smaller,” says Pakulat.
The court will now decide “how many shares belong to whom and whether everything went right in the deal with Bluebay”. Pakulat expects that it will take “a few years” before a verdict is reached. But: If no decision is made within ten years of the indictment being filed, a statute of limitations would apply and Al Thani would have the 97 percent he had acquired when he bought it in 2010 back.
PSG boss Al-Khelaifi on joining Malaga: “Why not?”
The investor group “Qatar Sports Investments” around boss Nasser Al-Khelaifi (among others known from Paris Saint-Germain) could offer a way out. Recently, the Spanish radio station “Cadena COPE“ reports that the QSI is in talks with FC Málaga about an entry, Al-Khelaifi took a position shortly afterwards. “We’re looking for opportunities, it’s a fantastic club that’s in a difficult situation right now. If there is a way, why not? The city and the club are fantastic,” emphasized the 49-year-old at an event for the daily newspaper “Marca” in Málaga. Expert Pakulat says about a possible QSI entry: “It would be a quick solution, so it is not unlikely. Al-Khelaifi could resolve the situation by paying off Al Thani’s debt and taking over his shares. How many that is exactly, the court would have to clarify. But Al-Khelaifi might be there for now.”
While there is public speculation about the sale of the club, it can be seen how it is getting closer and closer to being relegated to the third division. Málaga have won just seven of their 35 league games so far, and Sergio Pellicer is the third coach this season on the touchline. Pepe Mel and Pablo Guede had to go before him.
With a view to the looming relegation, Pakulat says that Málaga will then have to “completely realign”: “I think only four players have a valid contract for the third division, all the others would be free transfers. If they were relegated to the third division, the financial fortunes would look very different again.” Although Málaga is in a relatively good position economically at the moment, the financial bloodletting in the event of relegation is great. In any case, from a sporting point of view alone, a return to the second division would be “really tough”.
Málaga has the “great advantage of being one of the largest cities in Spain. You have the best prerequisites for building something up here again, which is why the demand from investors is very high. It’s actually all there, but you have to manage it well – and that hasn’t been done in recent years,” says the expert. In addition, it is “very difficult” for the club to survive as long as it is not clear what will become of Al Thani’s shares. “As long as this uncertainty hovers over the club, it’s a very difficult thing. That can also be seen in sporting terms.”
How beautifully it shines again, the rose garden! Much too nice for the third class, right? #vamosmalaga #MalagaCF #MalagaLevante #LaLiga pic.twitter.com/JQi3z9umZJ
— Fabian Pakulat (@rosengartler) March 17, 2023
There are seven games left, in a league comparison Málaga has one of the supposedly simpler remaining programs, because it is sometimes against direct competitors. Most recently, after the 0-1 draw at FC Andorra, coach Pellicer said: “The team is doing their best and as long as we have the chance we must not give up because of the people who have our backs and who we feel sorry for today.”
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