Sitting mid-table in the second division of Spanish football, Sporting Gijón operates in a different financial league to the likes of Chelsea FC and AC Milan, elite teams that secured record-breaking price tags earlier this year.
Yet clubs like Sporting in the northern coastal city of Gijón are now at the forefront of a wave of international investment chasing teams outside Europe’s top five leagues. In June, the club was acquired by Grupo Orlegi, a Mexican investment fund seeking to build a global network of sports teams, for around €40mn.
“It’s not a matter of size”, says Alejandro Irarragorri, a former metals trader who founded Orlegi. “We looked at first division teams, but none of them provided us with the potential for the future that Gijón does.”