Malaga's great decline within a decade

Ten years ago Malaga looked poised to become the latest success story in European football, joining a growing group of clubs whose fortunes had been transformed by the arrival of a wealthy new owner. Now, however, the Andalusian club are on the brink of relegation to the Spanish third division, with their long-ago dream turned into a seemingly inevitable nightmare. This is the story of Malaga, which should serve as another cautionary example that when it comes to sudden injections of money from afar, fans should be careful what they wish for.

On 9 April 2013, Malaga were seconds away from the semi-finals of the Champions League. An entertaining side managed by Manuel Pellegrini and featuring future Real Madrid stars Julio Baptista and Isco were leading 2-1 on aggregate over Borussia Dortmund as the quarter-final second leg went into extra time. But then Jurgen Klopp's side scored twice in two minutes to seal one of the most remarkable comebacks in Champions League history. Despite that defeat, the future still looked bright for Malaga, a provincial and anonymous club that had never won a major trophy. The arrival of Qatari businessman Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani as new owner in 2010 heralded a dramatic transformation, with new coach Pellegrini given a large transfer budget and spending it wisely - including major investments in Ruud van Nistelrooyn and Santi Cazorlan - to secure fourth and sixth place in La Liga.

Although Pellegrini left for Manchester City in the summer of 2013 and rising star Isco was snapped up by Real Madrid, there was initially confidence that Al-Thani's support would keep Malaga fighting for a prominent place in European football. But then it all started to unravel and it's been downhill ever since. First, the club was banned from the Europa League under the new financial fairplay rules, giving Al-Thani - who was already frustrated by the financial dominance of Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spanish football - a clear understanding that the rules would thwart his efforts to create a superpower. But even more important developments came far from the world of football.

In 2011, Al-Thani announced plans to significantly develop the tourist resort of Marbellaa, 40 miles west of Malaga. The mayor of Marbella hailed the project - partly owned by the city council together with Al-Thani's company - as "a work that will lay the foundations for a new city model and act as an engine of economic development for the whole coast".

The idea to invest 400 million euros to create "the most important resort on the Mediterranean coast" - to be called, of course, "Marina Al-Thani" - offered the promise of regeneration of the local area, leading to thousands of new jobs. and great profits for its owner. But the plans soon ran into problems with Al-Thani seemingly unable to meet his financial commitments. At the same time, his relationship also deteriorated with another business partner, with whom he had reached an agreement to jointly own and manage the football club. These sagas eventually ended in court, with both rulings going against the increasingly absent Al-Thani. The football club's fortunes mirrored those of its owner and Malaga inevitably collapsed in 2018 amid unmanageable debts. Two years later, in February 2020, a regional court ordered Al-Thani's removal as club president over alleged misuse of funds, with an audit concluding that Al-Thani and his family had owe the club more than 7 million euros. Control of the club's affairs was handed over to a court-appointed administrator, Jose Maria Munoz, who has remained in charge ever since and has largely managed to preserve the club's financial position. The football side of the business, however, has not improved. Freelance journalist Alex Fitzpatrick, who runs a Twitter account devoted to the Spanish second division, explained that “Former Malaga player Manolo Gaspar became the club's sporting director and he was unable to fulfill his role. He oversaw all the signings and many of them were disastrous."

In the last five years alone, Malaga have changed 10 coaches, including three this season alone.

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The most recent incumbent, Sergio Pellicer, returned for his second term in January, shortly before Gaspar himself stepped down to add further chaos behind the scenes. Hampered by a string of poor signings, no managerial stability and an absentee owner who continues to protest his innocence, it's no wonder the team has suffered. Results and performances this season have been consistently poor, and Malaga are deep in relegation trouble - eight points off safety with nine games remaining.

"It looks like they're going to be relegated," says Fitzpatrick. "But beyond this season there is some hope that they can come back because the club has a good youth system and is now commercially well run."

At some point, the future of the club's ownership will also be decided, with another court hearing on the "Al-Thani case" scheduled for April 21. Al-Thani will eventually have to give up or sell his controlling stake in the club, and Nasser Al-Khelaifi - owner of Paris St-Germain - has admitted his group is interested in buying Malaga. On the pitch, with 27 points still up for grabs, it's too early to give up on avoiding relegation entirely. However, the ongoing decline currently shows no sign of improvement and Malaga's glory days in the knockout stages of the Champions League will surely soon be replaced by semi-professional opponents in the third division of Spain's region.