Miguel Ángel Gil Marín: “We plan to double the Club’s revenues again in the next three years”

What does it mean that Atlético de Madrid is already in the Top 15 of Deloitte’s “Football Money League”?
The Club maintains a sustainable growth despite the crisis in Spain. During this period in which the country has been immersed in one of the worst economic times of our recent history, Atlético has grown in all aspects: 9 finals, 7 titles, 75,000 members, 45,000 pass members, close to 900 supporters’ clubs and more than 12 million fans on social networks. Crisis mean opportunities, and Atlético has taken advantage of theirs.

We have doubled our income budget, going in this period from 75 million to 150 million. But the most important thing is that we remain true to our values, both in social, union and commitment of all levels of the Club, and at a sporting level, setting an example to the world that you can compete at the highest level with values above the cheque book.

We plan to double the Club’s revenues again in the next three years, and we must achieve it, this will allow us to be permanently in the top 16 clubs of the world.

That report also highlights the enormous growth of the Club in social networks...
Yes, we are the fastest growing Club in social networks among the top 20 in Europe. We have increased our Facebook followers by 512% last season. This confirms that there is a good management that reaches all areas of the Club. We grow in followers because the team is attractive, modern and fun for fans, who identify with it because of how things are being done. These large figures in social networks, where more than 10 million follow us on Facebook and almost a million and a half on Twitter, join the more than 75,000 members of the organisation, a record in our history. 

Our training plan is, together with the international brand development and the construction of our new stadium, the most exciting project of the Club

And, in addition, the team is competing at the highest level sports-wise... That’s true. It’s the fruit of institutional stability, the work of the coach and players and of good planning, where we alternate short term investments to continue competing at the current level, with others that will guarantee the future of the team. The work of Diego Simeone is being decisive, not only in obtaining excellent sporting results, but in forging the values to compete that make us strong and different.

All of this regardless of the unlimited bet on the Academy. Our training plan is - together with the international brand development and the construction of our new stadium - the most exciting project of the Club.

This past year we have witnessed the birth of Atlético de Kolkata, which has managed to become the champion on the Indian Super League, which has driven our brand image in a country with such an important market.

For the first team to remain competitive we must be a reliable team for global sponsors, and to do so we must become a Club that regularly plays the round of 16 of the Champions League. This will allow us to increase revenues, improve sports-wise and therefore grow socially and become a global brand, a global Club.

This year, we’ll close the agreements in Turkey, India, China and the United States, where Atlético will manage eight venues of the Academy with nearly 5,000 children

What importance do you give to the role of the Academy in the future of the Club?

We are closing agreements to open three big new venues of the Academy in the community of Madrid, which will allow us to work with 4,000 children instead of the current 1,800. It’s not only a sporting project, it’s also a social project, of growth as a Club.

Additionally, in 2015 we’ll close the agreements and start our activity in four countries - Turkey, India, China and the United States, - where Atlético will manage eight venues of the Academy with nearly 5,000 children. These venues, together with the ones already underway in Mexico, will allow us to grow as a brand and link more families to the Club.

Violence in our sport is a matter of concern.
It is a problem embedded in our society, which in mass sports, develops easily thanks to the anonymity of those who practice it.

Thanks to the joint work of clubs, the Professional Football League (LFP) and State, as well as the investment in technology in the stadiums, it is now difficult to maintain anonymity, which together with policy changes in the Law, make it neither easy nor free to maintain certain standards of conduct in the stadiums.

Atlético has made its position on the matter public; expulsion of those whose identity is provided by the police or anti-violence Commission for acts contrary to the law, as well as all those the Club can prove to have had behaviours that threaten the main objective of our fans: encourage, support, live and enjoy the show with friends and family.

How do you see the situation of the Professional Football League (LFP) and the football sector in Spain?
The sector is clearly on a trend to change, to improve its activity.

The implementation of economic control in the LFP involves clubs stopping arrangements with creditors with the ease and purpose with which they were carried out, which resulted in an unfortunate image of our football and its managers.

In the next three seasons, the debt of the clubs with the public administrations will be almost cancelled.
The prosecution of fixes and acts of violence in our sector are two other aspects on which we are working, and the prosecution of those who practice them and their consequences make us optimistic about their eradication.

The main unresolved current issue in our sector regards the construction of a strong, competitive and fair League brand. To do this, modifying the current system of selling and distribution of TV rights, as well as adjusting the times thinking about our fans and emerging markets is relevant.

Football requires the government to take a just and necessary step

The government promised to approve the new Sports Law. What is your opinion about it?

The Government, through the Secretary of State for Sports - committed at different times and in different forums to get in 2014, the approval of the Council of Ministers to a Royal Decree to regulate the collective sale of TV rights. They haven’t delivered. I am aware of the pressure received by all those agents who want control of the rights the day after the Royal Decree, but it is the duty of the Government to safeguard the interest of the fans, the viability of clubs, and the competitiveness of our League, and achieving it today is really easy. They know how much we need it to be published urgently. The television operators need to know whether they will manage the rights in four months or not, operators both for Spain and the international territory. The creditors of the clubs need to know if they have guarantees to pay their debts or not; and fans want to know if their teams are going to grow, if there will be reasonable times for them, if there will be peace in football. In short, football requires the government to take a just and necessary step, a simple step that also carries no minimum attrition because nobody opposes to it.

And what is your opinion about the arrival of foreign capital?
It doesn’t matter if capital is domestic or foreign. What matters is that capital enters our football, that we are more global, more competitive. We must put our League on par with the Premier League, which undoubtedly, is the most relevant to emerging markets, and the ones to best take care for their fans.

Foreign capital that seeks to help clubs grow and make our League more competitive must be welcome.

Atlético, after evaluating many options, which highlights the attractiveness of our Club, our country and our League, has chosen to seek economic and business support of a global brand in the world of entertainment. Wanda Group will help us accelerate our growth in Asia. Its entry into the capital of the Club not only strengthens them patrimonial and economically, but will also allow us to accelerate their growth in search of globalisation.

We have to improve our product, put it up high, believe in it

What are we missing to equate with the English Premier League?

For starters, have a fair distribution of television rights, to eliminate the tremendous differences that exist among some clubs and others. We need to earn similar incomes to those from the Premier League for their joint sale of rights in other markets such as Asia’s. We have to improve our product, put it up high, believe in it.

We have to be the first to appreciate what we have and sell it as it deserves. The Premier League believes in their product and exports it all over.

In this sense, the work of the Professional Football League through the World Challenge project will also help increase the value of our League in the world.

Is the club at its best moment of the last decade?
Without a doubt. Sports-wise, we are competing regularly in the Champions League, allowing us economic stability that encourages investment for the growth of the team. Socially, we’re experiencing a magnificent phase, where we are constantly breaking fan records. The experience amassed, the growth of the Club, institutional stability, its capitalisation, the new venues of the Academy, the new stadium, our brand’s international development, the performance of the first team, and above all, the commitment to the Club of the ever-growing fans, ensures a hopeful future.

And looking forward, how do you see the Club in the coming years?
Our Club has a big challenge such as the move to our new stadium in two seasons. It’s an exciting project and it will help us maintain this upward trend of recent seasons. It will completely change the outlook of the Club because we will have a last generation stadium that will allow us to increase our revenues through different concepts, which will strengthen us in the first level of the football world, which will help our fans to enjoy their team much more, it will enhance the services we offer, which will benefit our sponsors. It will allow us to make a tremendous leap in quality. And that project occupies much of our time, which we spend with pleasure because we know it will be very beneficial for the entity.

China is a key market in our strategy of globalisation. With the entry of Wanda Group in our capital, this objective is receiving definitive momentum

How do you think Atlético can help Chinese football?
Our Academy is one of the most important youth systems of European football. Thanks to our sports model, great players have developed who have played for Atlético de Madrid, as well as for many other national and international clubs. A model that not only focuses on football purely, but that aims to educate the person comprehensively, with clearly defined values. We believe in this model and that’s why we export it to other countries and in China, we think we can help improve the skills of their young players with our model and our many years of experience.

How important is China in Atlético’s strategy?
China is a key market in our strategy of globalisation. With the entry of Wanda Group in our capital, this objective is receiving definitive momentum, since it will ease the expansion of our brand with different agreements such as the establishment of Academy schools in different areas of the country for the training of young Chinese players, the establishment of nearly 200 official product corners in the 200 largest shopping centres owned by Wanda Group in different areas of the country and conducting pre-season tours where local fans can meet our stars. Furthermore, our Club and Wanda Group will be much more united through social networks thanks to a partnership with the company Ten Cent, which will bring news content from Atlético de Madrid to Chinese fans.