The sport of soccer is full of highly paid athletes playing for multi-million dollar clubs who are watched and followed by millions of fans around the globe. However, this season, Spain’s La Liga provides fans the chance to witness the true meaning of passion for the sport in three revolutionary teams: Eibar SD, Cordoba CF and Rayo Vallecano. The three teams won’t compete for La Liga title or even for European spots, however, the fact that they are competing at the level they are is an accomplishment in it of itself.
La Liga’s Revolutionary Teams
Eibar SD
The tiny club in Basque country is playing in Spain’s top division for the first time in the club’s 74 year history and they are doing it their way. The team plays with an anti-establishment flair and a bit of a revolutionary way of getting results in today’s money rich game. It literally took a village to get the team eligible to play in La Liga as the team had a few hurdles to pass before they would be allowed to compete against Spain’s elite.
Two of the largest obstacles the club had to overcome in order to remain eligible to play their first game in the top division were that they needed to have more capital on their books and the stadium must be expanded within two years of promotion in order to remain in La Liga. The team had to raise €1.7 million in order to meet a capital stipulation by La Liga. In order to raise the capital the team sold shares of €50 to fans with a cap of €100,000 per individual, and eventually met their goal of raising the necessary capital to keep their rightfully earned spot in the league. The team is also required to have a stadium capacity of 15,000 seats within two years of promotion. The current stadium, the Ipurúa stadium, has been expanded from 5,250 seats to around 6,700. The goal is that if the team can stay in the league for another season, then they can tackle the stadium issue next year.
Unlike many of today’s clubs in Spain (let alone Europe), Eibar operates under no debt. In contrast, the big clubs in La Liga, according to TheRichest.com, Barcelona and Real Madrid operate at $156 Million and $165 Million debt as of February 2014. However, those clubs are also among the richest in the world and can carry that much debt due to their revenue streams. Last year, all 20 clubs in La Liga were operating in debt. The majority of club’s expenses come in the form of player salaries and transfers; however, Eibar operates within their means and doesn’t lavishly spend on players, which is perhaps one of the reasons why it has taken them so long to finally reach the top division. Eibar has gotten by with players they take out on loan from bigger clubs, especially ones in the Basque region such as Atletico Bilbao or Real Sociedad. The team even plays in borrowed colors. In 1944, Barcelona lent the club extra kits so the team could have uniforms to play in, fast forward to 2014 and the club is still wearing the Barcelona Red and Blue stripes.
Eibar’s first taste of top division soccer occurred last week when they made their debut against Real Sociedad to set up a Basque Derby. Los Armeros (Gunners), kicked their season off in spectacular fashion as they upset their neighbors 1-0 with a goal from midfielder Javi Lara off a free kick that set the stadium and surely the town, into hysteria. The team will next face Atletico Madrid and will hope to carry some of their first week magic and revolutionary methods into the game with them to complete a real global shocker and knock off the defending Liga champions.
Cordoba CF
Los Blanquiverdes (the White and Greens) won promotion to La Liga by winning the promotion playoff in La Segunda División. Unlike fellow promoted team Eibar, Cordoba CF has been in the top division before, unfortunately, the last time they played in the top division Richard Nixon was President of the United States and Franz Beckenbauer was the Ballon d’Or, the year was 1972. Cordoba plays in the southern part of the country in the Andalusian region and will now get the opportunity to play against four fellow teams in the region, with Sevilla being their closest rival in the area.
The team has toiled in Spain’s second division and second division B with the rock bottom moment coming in 1984 when they were relegated to the third division for a season. It is not as if Cordoba dominated La Segunda División last year, they were a team that just managed to stay alive long enough to make the promotion playoffs. The only reason Cordoba made the promotion playoffs was because Barcelona’s B team, which finished in third place, is not eligible for promotion, so Cordoba snuck in on a technicality. They caught fire beating the favorites Murcia (2-1 on aggregate) and pulling off a shocker in the third minute of injury time to tie Las Palmas 1-1 and win promotion on the away goal rule. The goal is labeled as the goal that changed history.
The team experienced some roster turnover as their second and third leading goal scorers left the team (Pedro Sanchez with 8 goals left for Zaragoza and Uli Davila with 7 goals including the promotion winning goal returned from his loan spell to Chelsea). Their top goal scorer, Xisco, returns with his 10 goals from last season though. They brought in 10 players on loan, including their 2011-2012 leading goal scorer Borja Garcia from Real Madrid B for a second loan.
Cordoba had their “Welcome to the show” moment when they were pitted against the champions of Europe, Real Madrid at the Benabeu Stadium to open up the season last week. Cordoba put forth a valiant effort, but still fell 2-0 in a game that they came dangerously close to leveling up in the first half before the champions sealed the points with a Ronaldo goal. Cordoba makes their home debut in La Liga this Saturday at Nuevo Arcangel stadium with what should be a fired up supporters nation in the stands against Celta de Vigo, who finished in 9th place in La Liga last year.
Rayo Vallecano
Los Vallecanos have more experience in La Liga than Eibar and Cordoba combined and have been in Spain’s top division for the past three seasons. They finished in 12th place last year, however, only four points clear of relegation and with the league’s second worse goal differential (-34) next to relegated Real Betis (-42). The team also suffers the unfortunate fate of playing in the same city as two of the more popular and successful teams in the league, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, and in a year when both teams played neck and neck for La Liga title, Copa Del Rey and Champions League title they saw the effects in attendance numbers as they averaged the second lowest attendance per game in the league (10,164). Only fellow Madrid team Getafe averaged a lower attendance number with 6,823.
Rayo Vallecano had a horrible end to their 2013-2014 campaign as they lost their last three games of the season after rallying earlier in the season behind the team’s rallying cry of “si se puede!” (yes we can). The team was stuck in the relegation zone for a portion of the season when they began the rallying cry to draw fans to support and attend the team’s games. After a successive string of wins over top of the table contenders Valencia and Real Sociedad, the team finally found themselves outside of the relegation zone. The team celebrated the joyous moment with their home fans after defeating Almeria. The team believes and their fans believe that they have found the formula to becoming La Liga mainstays and end their history of being a “yo-yo” team that continues to toil between top and second division soccer. The team has relied on a formula of bringing in loans and reclamation projects, for instance, the team has brought in forwards Jonathan Pereira and Leo Baptistao on loan from Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, respectively. They also brought in midfielders Gael Kakuta and Javier Aquino on loan from Chelsea and Villarreal, respectively as well. The new players mixed in with Roberto Trashorras and AlbertoBueno, the team’s second leading goal scorer last year, should provide a good nucleus of players that can compete with the top division competition.
Los Vallecanos started off their season last Monday with a Madrid derby at home in the Campo de Futbol de Vallecas against the Liga champions Atletico Madrid. Rayo Vallecano pulled off a 0-0 tie against the league champions in a game that provided the home side with the better opportunities. While it wasn’t a win against the in town rivals, it was still a good showing and a good start to their campaign for a team that is looking to cement their spot as a La Liga regular. The team travels to play Deportivo La Coruna on Sunday who will be looking for their first points of the season at home.
The Road Won’t Be Easy
The three teams will not be mistaken for championship contenders in Spain; instead they may find themselves battling each other to stay out of the relegation zone. The one thing the teams will have to offer fans of soccer is that they play hard and they play with passion. If last week’s games provide any glimpse into what fans will be treated to by these three teams over the coming season, then it should be an entertaining one and one that any fan of the sport can relate to. Eibar, Cordoba and Rayo Vallecano exude the essence of competition and who knows; perhaps an upset win or two over a Real Madrid or Barcelona could capture the rest of the world’s attention and focus on these remarkable clubs of Spain.
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