"I'm sure that all our fans are proud to see their team compete"
The Atlético de Madrid CEO uses the Christmas break to analyse the club's current situation just a few days before the turn of the year.
The situation couldn’t be any better at such an important time. How do you think the team is doing?
The truth is that it couldn't be any more exciting. It's great to see the team play, how they compete, with such humility, solidarity and efficiency. I'm sure that all our fans are proud to see their team compete. However, we have to be aware that football is today, not yesterday or tomorrow. And as always, our philosophy is to think about the next game, which is the cup match against Marbella.
The games are proving to be very exciting this season. The last one against Barcelona with Sørloth's goal in the 96th minute put the team top of the table. What do you attribute the high number of goals in injury time to?
One can be a coincidence. Two, too. But thirteen goals so far this season, no. It's an emotional trend. There is a conviction that it can be achieved because it has been achieved in previous games and, with that thought, our team keeps looking for the goal and ends up finding it. We have a very competitive squad, in which everyone is aware that there are no starters and bench players. They all know that it is just as important to play 60 minutes as it is to play 35. Many of those decisive goals have been scored by players who have come off the bench in the second half, but who have entered the pitch convinced that any result can be overturned and end up deciding the games in our favour. We have a squad of an enormous level and they are showing it on the pitch.
Do you think this situation is the result of the big investment made in the summer transfer window?
We knew that we had to make important changes to the squad and sign several important players in key positions. And that meant a big investment because we were talking about players of a high international level. But we were convinced of the need to invest in strengthening the team and we took risks to do so through a capital increase of 70 million euros and the sales of some players. I am convinced that, despite the risks involved in these investments, we have been right in our commitment to improve the squad and, after a logical period of adaptation, the team's performance is noticing the contribution of these additions.
Diego Simeone is still in charge of the team. How do you assess his work?
I’m not sure people realise how complicated it is to be at the top level of football for 13 years at the same club. With Diego on the bench, we have qualified for the Champions League for 12 years in a row, something that only five other clubs in Europe have achieved. It is an impressive statistic. To be in charge of a team for so long, it is necessary to change speeches, messages, strategies, with the aim of not falling into monotony and continuing to motivate the player. What strikes me most about Diego is that he maintains the same passion, excitement and enthusiasm as on the first day. He has broken every possible record in our club and he only cares about how to win the next game. It is unbelievable.
The two of you are a great working team, what is the key to success?
Our relationship is based on respect, each of us giving our best in our area of work. We have known each other for many, many years and we already know what the other is going to think about an issue without even talking about it. His work, attitude and the tools the club makes available to him are the key to success. We have just celebrated 13 years of working together and such a long-lasting relationship would have been impossible without the respect and trust we have for each other.
You were talking about 12 consecutive years in the Champions League, but this season the team will also be playing in its first Club World Cup. How do you see Atlético de Madrid's presence in this competition?
It is a historic milestone and a source of pride to represent Spanish football in the first FIFA Club World Cup in this format. It was very difficult to get a place in this competition, as only two Spanish clubs will be taking part. And we have achieved it thanks to the accumulated coefficient for sporting results in European competitions, surpassing Barcelona, who have twice our budget. We should be very satisfied with the team's performance in all these seasons. We will participate in the Club World Cup with great enthusiasm. It is a very nice challenge for the team and its fans.
There are voices that criticise the saturation of the calendar. What do you make of this?
Obviously, this is a season that is particularly saturated with matches for some clubs. The international calendar affects some clubs more than others. In Europe there are 55 professional leagues, about a thousand clubs, and this saturation only affects less than 5% of them.
ECA works with UEFA, FIFA and FIFPRO to find a balance, but all the institutions that organise competitions want more matches.
In my opinion, the solution should be to limit the number of matches each player can play in a season, at club and international level. Our duty is to protect the players.
As a member of the ECA Executive Committee, what can you tell us about the key role of ECA in football today?
For many years, clubs did not have an association to represent us in international bodies. That role was played at the time by the G-14, but it was an elitist group that only had its own interests at heart. Today the European Club Association represents almost 800 clubs and they all have a voice and the option to be in the governing bodies. ECA is the only club association recognised by the international bodies, UEFA and FIFA, with which it has signed agreements that protect the clubs and allow them to participate in the decision-making that affects the competitions they organise.
In the past, clubs only found out about UEFA's agreements with TV operators and sponsors and their distribution model after the fact. Today, clubs are part of any decision-making, and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, its president, is managing to integrate the vast majority of clubs, regardless of their size, into the same strategy, while at the same time gaining the respect of UEFA and FIFA.
You are also a member of the UEFA Executive Committee. How do you assess the management of this body?
UEFA is key to maintaining the balance of European football. Its president, Aleksander Čeferin, has perfectly understood the dimension of the body he presides over, the dimension of the clubs involved and the legislation applicable in the European Union. He is constantly working to strike a difficult balance between the interests of clubs and federations. From his position, it is essential to listen to the different sensitivities, but at the same time to have the determination to set a criterion and to apply it.
In recent days there has been renewed talk of the Super League. What is your opinion on this project?
Initially, it was a project based on a closed league that protected a few and endangered the pyramid of European football. Now it has remained the claim of a single club determined to fight against the system. I sincerely believe that the best way to change what you don't agree with is to do it from the inside. From the outside, no matter how big a club is, the only thing that is achieved is to create uncertainty for TV operators and sponsors, and thus slow down the growth of the competitions with the current formats.
UEFA and ECA, which represent the system, have adapted their competitions in order to allow clubs from more countries to participate, thanks to the three European competitions: Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. At the same time, they have also made it possible for the big clubs to earn more money.
You are vice-president of LaLiga. There’s criticism of the slowdown in the growth of TV rights and the agreement with CVC.
It is not easy to summarise in one answer LaLiga’s work and strategy. Javier Tebas has been working for years with a roadmap, based mainly on the clubs being solvent, on the competition being clean, without the possibility of rigging at the end of the season, on fighting against acts of violence and racism in the stadiums, on increasing the clubs' turnover and on making LaLiga competitive.
The value of the rights would grow faster if we could do two things: eradicate piracy and dispel any doubts about the creation of other competitions, as TV operators invest for the long term.
Regarding the agreement with CVC, just look at the evolution of stadium revenues before and after the investment in the stadiums. LaLiga requires 70% of CVC's money to be invested in infrastructure and technology, with the aim of improving services and experiences for fans. All this has contributed to changing the image of the stadiums and our football.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has recently elected its new president. What do you think the relationship between the federation and LaLiga will be like from now on?
In order to protect Spanish football we must go hand in hand – coordination and collaboration between the two is essential. LaLiga must manage, in accordance with its competences, professional football. And the Federation, amateur football and the different national teams. The new president of the RFEF, Rafael Louzán, faces important challenges such as maintaining the competitive level of the different national teams, regaining representation in the bodies that govern our football, such as UEFA and FIFA, and ensuring that all of us, clubs, players and fans, are clear about the criteria applied by the VAR in certain plays. The new president is facing a great opportunity and I am confident that he will work to make the most of it.
After the incidents involving the throwing of various objects in the last derby, the club received several financial sanctions and the closure of an area of the stadium for the match against Leganés. How do you assess this situation?
It is a very sensitive issue for us. We have been working for years to eradicate all acts of violence and xenophobia in our stadium. We believe we have the best fans in the world, because of their bond and loyalty to the club, and that is precisely why we cannot allow 60 or 70 people in an end of almost 5,000 people to do so much damage to the club and its fans. Beyond the fact that the club has to pay a lot of money every season in sanctions because of the attitudes of a very few, it also suffers enormous reputational damage.
We are expelling one by one all those who commit acts that damage the reputation of the club, the coexistence with other fans or breach the rules and prohibitions set out in the Sports Law.
To do this more effectively, we would need legislative changes to allow the use of biometric data, fingerprint or facial recognition in access control.
It will be a year since the reorganisation of the club's organisational structure to face the new challenges that lie ahead. What is your assessment?
Almost a year ago we created two major general directorates to help us continue to grow and I think the balance of this new stage is very positive.
Our General Director of Football, Carlos Bucero, coordinates the different sporting departments of the club. In addition to the men's and women's first teams, he is also in charge of the Pre-Elite area, the Academy, and the coordination with our sister clubs, Atlético de San Luis and Atlético Ottawa.
Óscar Mayo, as General Director of Revenue and Operations, in addition to the directorates that make up his area and that offer different services to our fans and sponsors, also leads the Ciudad del Deporte (Sports City) project.
Both incorporations are very important for us, because in addition to boosting the organisation, they have allowed me to dedicate the necessary time to represent the club in different national and international bodies and to devote all my efforts to the definition and development of the sport and leisure project around the stadium.
Precisely, in July, the first stone was laid for the Ciudad del Deporte, in collaboration with the Madrid City Council.
We are putting a lot of effort into what is undoubtedly the most ambitious project in the club's history. We are not going to build a sports city, as many other clubs have done. We want to build a unique project that will become a destination in itself. There will be a wide range of leisure, entertainment and the possibility to practice different sports such as rock climbing and surfing. We will have a high-performance centre, but also municipal facilities for the residents of the neighbourhood. It will be a space with numerous facilities open to everyone.
In the first months of the year all the access works will be completed and during 2025 we will be able to check the evolution of the works in order to inaugurate them in the 2026-27 season, when our teams will start training in the new facilities.
