This is the peculiar story of Xerez Deportivo FC, a new-born football club which was founded last summer, because of the dramatic situation that Xerez CD has been going through for the last five years. This is the first time that a team that is supposed to replace an old one, coexists alongside another in Spain. Our correspondent Carlos García travelled to Jerez de la Frontera, near Cádiz, to learn more about them.
The global financial crisis, which started in 2008, still affects to Spanish society today. Unemployment is higher than ever. Thousands of families can’t get enough money to eat and pay the mortgage at the same time. But as usual, politicians, bankers and other parts of the system keep their privileges and see their wealth grow. They don’t care about people, just themselves. There are strong parallels in Spanish football, which has also seen clubs, players and fans suffer.
For the last decade or so, the “big two” have monopolized La Liga and the Copa del Rey: F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid, who are also the key players when it comes to radio, press and TV coverage. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo seem to be fighting each other until the end of time to be the greatest footballer in history, while the rest of the teams battle day by day to make ends meet or pay their debts (they have to, of course), suffering the consequences of not being one of these two teams.
Lots of teams are or have gone through an administration process because of mismanagement. People who don’t know anything about football or just wanted to make themselves richer took historic clubs like Deportivo La Coruña, Real Betis, Real Zaragoza, Rayo Vallecano or Racing Santander to the bankruptcy. Lots of others, which were not playing in La Liga in the last few years, have disappeared recently. Many of them have been reborn by their fans, who are blameless when it comes to the fall of such clubs. One such example was the complicated situation at Xerez C.D.
A NEW BEGINNING
Our story begins when Xerez CD were relegated to the Segunda in 2010, after their first and only season in the Primera, since the club was founded in 1956. Just a few months later, in November, the club entered administration because of financial issues. Two years later, debts had grown to €29 million euros, an amount that a small club like Xerez simply couldn’t afford to pay. However, Xerez’s administration apparently ended in July 2012. A few months later though, in February 2013, a debt of 2 million euros to Spanish Treasury is discovered. At that stage, players and suppliers to the club had already gone unpaid for two months.
Things got even worse when the team was relegated to the Segunda ‘B’, ending a twelve-years stretch in the top two tiers of Spanish professional football. Fans got so tired of the situation, they decided to take action. Under the slogan “Let’s save Xerez”, fan federations called for a meeting were they would decide what to do when the club inevitably ended its existence. The Spanish Football League (LFP) asked Xerez to be dissolved. That was supposed to happen some weeks later, but it never did.
70% of the members decided that the new “phoenix” club, Xerez Deportivo FC, which was founded 28th June 2013, would start competing immediately. They all expected that the old one would disappear soon, so it was necessary to start working to build a team that could replace it. But in the last minute, Xerez’s top shareholder Joaquín Morales sold the club to Ricardo García, a businessman linked with an enterprise called Energy. Spanish Professional Footballers Association (AFE) and LFP confirmed the relegation of the original club, Xerez CD to the Tercera (4th Spanish division) because of the outstanding debts with players.
David Vidal, who replaced Carlos Ríos as manager, resigned because of the institutional chaos. Just twenty days after he was signed. Then, Paco Peña followed his footsteps and left the team after ten days in charge. Antonio Racero ‘Puma’ took the team and stayed several months, but he couldn’t handle the pressure, nor some of his players, so Paco Higuera took control of Xerez CD He’s still trying to save the team from relegation to the Primera Andaluza, a regional division in the 5th tier of Spanish football.
But there was now another team in Jerez de la Frontera that was living a magical dream. We could call it almost utopic. If Xerez Deportivo FC wanted to compete that season (the current one) it would have to be from the botton of Spanish Football: Segunda Provincial (8th division). It was not a problem for the fans, who delightedly accepted the challenge of following their new club. The new team began to prepare the season with some delay, but it’s not being a problem at all. Actually, Xerez DFC leads the table with seventeen victories, one draw and just one defeat.
Of course, a huge group of fans who had faithfully followed the “old” team, have invested their own money to create this new one. The budget this season is around €200.000. A big proportion of this money came from the almost 5,900 members who have joined Xerez DFC since last summer. This represents a new world record, and the club will be mentioned in the Guinness World Records as the lowest division football club with the biggest amount of members.
SQUAD AND STAFF
Despite of having the category’s biggest budget and lots of proposals from interesting veteran players, Xerez DFC decided to sign young players born in Jerez de la Frontera and several experienced footballer who could play the role of mentors. So, the club held a casting. Hundreds attended, but only few of them were chosen to be part of the squad.
Xerez Deportivo’s manager Carlos Orúe also called former iconic players of Xerez CD to contribute their experience to the team. They are Edu Villegas, Romerito, Carlitos, Bajic and Dani Pendín. These two are also managers of the youths, which lead the table, as the first team.
Amateur footballers in Spain don’t usually receive any payment for his services, and they are not an exception. So, what’s their secret? Why are they better than the other teams? Well, they train five days a week and have a large technical staff that includes a manager (Carlos Orúe), an assistant (Paco Ramírez), two fitness coaches, a goalkeeping coach, two kit men and a scouting expert. All of them were born in Jerez.
His signing was a surprise for most people. Fans and journalist thought he accepted the offer from Xerez Deportivo F.C. just because it they were supposed to replace the other team in the Tercera. He has trained his entire career among the Segunda and Segunda ‘B’, so taking charge of a team who would have to start their life, in the 8th tier of Spanish football, seemed a massive step down for such an experienced coach. They all were wrong.
When I went to Jerez, he had no problem to talking with me about this new project while his players were training in a local sports park, which is owned by Jerez City Council and used by all the citizens who want to practice sports. “We can only dream of our own training ground,” said Orúe. “We train at a different place every day, which is confusing, because you don’t know where your heading when you wake up in the morning.” Because of the high price, they can’t afford to use Chapín Stadium daily, so the training location changes every day.
Carlos Orúe’s career as a professional football manager started in Xerez C.D. in 1996, when he left his youth team post, to take control of the first team. That season, he got the promotion to the Segunda. Two years later, his job there ended, and he would never be more than a complete season in the same team. From 1998 to 2012 he has worked in teams such as Cádiz, Cacereño, Coria, Ceuta (over three different seasons), Ciudad de Murcia, Rayo Vallecano, Racing Portuense and Leganés.
“I was retiring”, he said when I asked if he accepted Xerez Deportivo’s offer with the hope to be playing in the Segunda B or Tercera. “I accepted it because it’s a beautiful project that gives us the opportunity to make things right from the very beginning, and I can stay with my family. I’ve spent so many years far from home. I didn’t know if I made the right choice, but over time I realized that I did”, explained the 61-year-old manager.
He also told me that he was sure that “if we go step by step, we could see the team in the Tercera or Segunda B soon”, and one of the reasons is that they work as a professional team, despite having to start from the lowest level of Spanish football. “We’re not the best, but we work harder than our rivals. We train everyday, we’re more prepared for the matches, so our obligation is to get promotion. That’s why I’ve been talking with the guys for an hour before this training session today; we’ve not played well lately, even though we’ve been winning.”
When I mentioned Xerez C.D.’s dramatic situation, Orúe affirmed that he felt respect for all the players and coaches, “who are suffering. It hurts to me to see what is happening there”.
Should Xerez C.D. be dissolved? “If I had a relative for which the doctors could not do anything, I would let them rest”, he said metaphorically. “Xerez C.D. this in a terminal phase, and it’s only alive because some interest I won’t ever understand”.
He played for Xerez C.D. during four seasons (2002-2006) in which he became one of the most important players that wore the blue shirt. Problems with club’s directors triggered his premature departure from the team and the city he fell in love with. Now he’s back, willing to finish what he started.
Even at 39, Dani Pendín still has plenty of football left in his boots. The Argentine midfielder met with me at a school of the city, after the latest victory for Xerez Deportivo’s youth team. He leads the team with Bajic, who’s also a first team player. Both of them are. Pendín, in fact, is the first captain of Xerez D.F.C. history.
“I received lots of offers from Segunda B and Tercera teams, but I didn’t think twice when Carlos asked me to be part of this project,” he said. Dani didn’t train with the first team that day because of a small injury and the youth match. He seemed happy playing this new role, but he said “no” when I asked if he’d like to take control of the first team when Orúe retires.
“I prefer working kids, they’re purer, innocent. Adults often have so much ego and are full of themselves.” Curiously, his son plays in one of the youth teams of Xerez CD. “I’m worried about him and his friends. About their parents too. Nobody knows what’s going to happen there…” Dani explained.
I reminded him his period as a Xerez CD player. He established his life in Jerez de la Frontera, but he had to leave in 2006 because of the problems with club’s top dogs. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to play”, he admitted, “but the only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll have the opportunity of retiring at home, as I always wished”.
I couldn’t leave Jerez without watching a match at Chapín, the stadium of the city, owned by the City Council. It used to be the home of Xerez CD, and their badge is still everywhere you look: the benches, the shop… Even some of the almost 5.000 people who were in the stands wore the old team shirt, but nobody cares about that.
“We feel that shirt and that badge are ours”, explained Pedro Ruíz. He is a member of the provisional directive, and the man who helped Carlos Orúe choose the players for Xerez Deportivo FC to sign last summer. “We have a new badge now, but we hope to recover the old one when Xerez C.D. eventually disappears”.
Cañorrera visited Chapín that day. I walked around the pitch before players started their warm up, and I saw Carlos Orúe and Paco Ramírez doing the same with Carroñera’s manager. They were talking and laughing. Xerez is almost unbeatable, but the other teams are so pleased about what they’re doing. There’s no bitter rivalry.
Every team Xerez Deportivo FC visited this season, earned enough money selling tickets to the ‘blues’ fans to pay all their expenses for the rest of the year. This isn’t dissimilar to what rivals in the bottom tears of English football discovered, after FC United of Manchester were founded. I was told that every match was a party, full of joy, fair play and a friendly atmosphere. At the end of every match, both teams have their photos taken together, because every day Xerez Deportivo FC keeps going, is a day to celebrate for football.
Salvador Galván, Xerez DFC chief press, told me about a match against El Bosque, when Xerez’s bus got stuck in one of the narrow streets of this little town in Cádiz province. Players and staff had to walk from the bus to the stadium, surrounded by their fans. It was one of the first games of the season, it was not a decisive one, but the atmosphere and strong following of fans, made it looked like the build up to a promotion match. Check it out:
Chapín was full of noise when Xerez and Cañorrera players took to the pitch. Chants and firecrackers began to ring around the stadium. It was hard to believe that I was watching a game in the 8th tier of Spanish football, where at best, a couple of hundred hardy fans usually attend games of most teams at this level. Then, I realized that it wouldn’t be just a football match. Even when Cañorrera scored first, the encouragement from the fans and the enthusiasm of the players, didn’t decline.
The ‘Blues’ were losing 0-1 at half time, and Carlos Orúe’s face said everything. “We can’t disappoint our fans and ourselves. We are Xerez,” he told me when I talked to him some days before. I think he said something similar to his players in the locker room. What happened next was epic.
The second half was dominated by Xerez Deportivo,who eventually got the three points thanks to Barba, a former B team player at Xerez CD, who scored twice. Players and fans celebrated the victory together. Kids cheered their heroes, who don’t drive luxury cars or earn millions a year, indeed, some of them haven’t even got a car, sharing a ride to training and matches.
It’s not just a simply triumph. It seems like every time Xerez DFC wins a match, football – real football, not the modern game – is winning too.
The global financial crisis, which started in 2008, still affects to Spanish society today. Unemployment is higher than ever. Thousands of families can’t get enough money to eat and pay the mortgage at the same time. But as usual, politicians, bankers and other parts of the system keep their privileges and see their wealth grow. They don’t care about people, just themselves. There are strong parallels in Spanish football, which has also seen clubs, players and fans suffer.
For the last decade or so, the “big two” have monopolized La Liga and the Copa del Rey: F.C. Barcelona and Real Madrid, who are also the key players when it comes to radio, press and TV coverage. Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo seem to be fighting each other until the end of time to be the greatest footballer in history, while the rest of the teams battle day by day to make ends meet or pay their debts (they have to, of course), suffering the consequences of not being one of these two teams.
Lots of teams are or have gone through an administration process because of mismanagement. People who don’t know anything about football or just wanted to make themselves richer took historic clubs like Deportivo La Coruña, Real Betis, Real Zaragoza, Rayo Vallecano or Racing Santander to the bankruptcy. Lots of others, which were not playing in La Liga in the last few years, have disappeared recently. Many of them have been reborn by their fans, who are blameless when it comes to the fall of such clubs. One such example was the complicated situation at Xerez C.D.
A NEW BEGINNING
Our story begins when Xerez CD were relegated to the Segunda in 2010, after their first and only season in the Primera, since the club was founded in 1956. Just a few months later, in November, the club entered administration because of financial issues. Two years later, debts had grown to €29 million euros, an amount that a small club like Xerez simply couldn’t afford to pay. However, Xerez’s administration apparently ended in July 2012. A few months later though, in February 2013, a debt of 2 million euros to Spanish Treasury is discovered. At that stage, players and suppliers to the club had already gone unpaid for two months.
Things got even worse when the team was relegated to the Segunda ‘B’, ending a twelve-years stretch in the top two tiers of Spanish professional football. Fans got so tired of the situation, they decided to take action. Under the slogan “Let’s save Xerez”, fan federations called for a meeting were they would decide what to do when the club inevitably ended its existence. The Spanish Football League (LFP) asked Xerez to be dissolved. That was supposed to happen some weeks later, but it never did.
70% of the members decided that the new “phoenix” club, Xerez Deportivo FC, which was founded 28th June 2013, would start competing immediately. They all expected that the old one would disappear soon, so it was necessary to start working to build a team that could replace it. But in the last minute, Xerez’s top shareholder Joaquín Morales sold the club to Ricardo García, a businessman linked with an enterprise called Energy. Spanish Professional Footballers Association (AFE) and LFP confirmed the relegation of the original club, Xerez CD to the Tercera (4th Spanish division) because of the outstanding debts with players.
David Vidal, who replaced Carlos Ríos as manager, resigned because of the institutional chaos. Just twenty days after he was signed. Then, Paco Peña followed his footsteps and left the team after ten days in charge. Antonio Racero ‘Puma’ took the team and stayed several months, but he couldn’t handle the pressure, nor some of his players, so Paco Higuera took control of Xerez CD He’s still trying to save the team from relegation to the Primera Andaluza, a regional division in the 5th tier of Spanish football.
But there was now another team in Jerez de la Frontera that was living a magical dream. We could call it almost utopic. If Xerez Deportivo FC wanted to compete that season (the current one) it would have to be from the botton of Spanish Football: Segunda Provincial (8th division). It was not a problem for the fans, who delightedly accepted the challenge of following their new club. The new team began to prepare the season with some delay, but it’s not being a problem at all. Actually, Xerez DFC leads the table with seventeen victories, one draw and just one defeat.
Of course, a huge group of fans who had faithfully followed the “old” team, have invested their own money to create this new one. The budget this season is around €200.000. A big proportion of this money came from the almost 5,900 members who have joined Xerez DFC since last summer. This represents a new world record, and the club will be mentioned in the Guinness World Records as the lowest division football club with the biggest amount of members.
SQUAD AND STAFF
Despite of having the category’s biggest budget and lots of proposals from interesting veteran players, Xerez DFC decided to sign young players born in Jerez de la Frontera and several experienced footballer who could play the role of mentors. So, the club held a casting. Hundreds attended, but only few of them were chosen to be part of the squad.
Xerez Deportivo’s manager Carlos Orúe also called former iconic players of Xerez CD to contribute their experience to the team. They are Edu Villegas, Romerito, Carlitos, Bajic and Dani Pendín. These two are also managers of the youths, which lead the table, as the first team.
Amateur footballers in Spain don’t usually receive any payment for his services, and they are not an exception. So, what’s their secret? Why are they better than the other teams? Well, they train five days a week and have a large technical staff that includes a manager (Carlos Orúe), an assistant (Paco Ramírez), two fitness coaches, a goalkeeping coach, two kit men and a scouting expert. All of them were born in Jerez.
His signing was a surprise for most people. Fans and journalist thought he accepted the offer from Xerez Deportivo F.C. just because it they were supposed to replace the other team in the Tercera. He has trained his entire career among the Segunda and Segunda ‘B’, so taking charge of a team who would have to start their life, in the 8th tier of Spanish football, seemed a massive step down for such an experienced coach. They all were wrong.
When I went to Jerez, he had no problem to talking with me about this new project while his players were training in a local sports park, which is owned by Jerez City Council and used by all the citizens who want to practice sports. “We can only dream of our own training ground,” said Orúe. “We train at a different place every day, which is confusing, because you don’t know where your heading when you wake up in the morning.” Because of the high price, they can’t afford to use Chapín Stadium daily, so the training location changes every day.
Carlos Orúe’s career as a professional football manager started in Xerez C.D. in 1996, when he left his youth team post, to take control of the first team. That season, he got the promotion to the Segunda. Two years later, his job there ended, and he would never be more than a complete season in the same team. From 1998 to 2012 he has worked in teams such as Cádiz, Cacereño, Coria, Ceuta (over three different seasons), Ciudad de Murcia, Rayo Vallecano, Racing Portuense and Leganés.
“I was retiring”, he said when I asked if he accepted Xerez Deportivo’s offer with the hope to be playing in the Segunda B or Tercera. “I accepted it because it’s a beautiful project that gives us the opportunity to make things right from the very beginning, and I can stay with my family. I’ve spent so many years far from home. I didn’t know if I made the right choice, but over time I realized that I did”, explained the 61-year-old manager.
He also told me that he was sure that “if we go step by step, we could see the team in the Tercera or Segunda B soon”, and one of the reasons is that they work as a professional team, despite having to start from the lowest level of Spanish football. “We’re not the best, but we work harder than our rivals. We train everyday, we’re more prepared for the matches, so our obligation is to get promotion. That’s why I’ve been talking with the guys for an hour before this training session today; we’ve not played well lately, even though we’ve been winning.”
When I mentioned Xerez C.D.’s dramatic situation, Orúe affirmed that he felt respect for all the players and coaches, “who are suffering. It hurts to me to see what is happening there”.
Should Xerez C.D. be dissolved? “If I had a relative for which the doctors could not do anything, I would let them rest”, he said metaphorically. “Xerez C.D. this in a terminal phase, and it’s only alive because some interest I won’t ever understand”.
He played for Xerez C.D. during four seasons (2002-2006) in which he became one of the most important players that wore the blue shirt. Problems with club’s directors triggered his premature departure from the team and the city he fell in love with. Now he’s back, willing to finish what he started.
Even at 39, Dani Pendín still has plenty of football left in his boots. The Argentine midfielder met with me at a school of the city, after the latest victory for Xerez Deportivo’s youth team. He leads the team with Bajic, who’s also a first team player. Both of them are. Pendín, in fact, is the first captain of Xerez D.F.C. history.
“I received lots of offers from Segunda B and Tercera teams, but I didn’t think twice when Carlos asked me to be part of this project,” he said. Dani didn’t train with the first team that day because of a small injury and the youth match. He seemed happy playing this new role, but he said “no” when I asked if he’d like to take control of the first team when Orúe retires.
“I prefer working kids, they’re purer, innocent. Adults often have so much ego and are full of themselves.” Curiously, his son plays in one of the youth teams of Xerez CD. “I’m worried about him and his friends. About their parents too. Nobody knows what’s going to happen there…” Dani explained.
I reminded him his period as a Xerez CD player. He established his life in Jerez de la Frontera, but he had to leave in 2006 because of the problems with club’s top dogs. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to play”, he admitted, “but the only thing I’m sure of is that I’ll have the opportunity of retiring at home, as I always wished”.
I couldn’t leave Jerez without watching a match at Chapín, the stadium of the city, owned by the City Council. It used to be the home of Xerez CD, and their badge is still everywhere you look: the benches, the shop… Even some of the almost 5.000 people who were in the stands wore the old team shirt, but nobody cares about that.
“We feel that shirt and that badge are ours”, explained Pedro Ruíz. He is a member of the provisional directive, and the man who helped Carlos Orúe choose the players for Xerez Deportivo FC to sign last summer. “We have a new badge now, but we hope to recover the old one when Xerez C.D. eventually disappears”.
Cañorrera visited Chapín that day. I walked around the pitch before players started their warm up, and I saw Carlos Orúe and Paco Ramírez doing the same with Carroñera’s manager. They were talking and laughing. Xerez is almost unbeatable, but the other teams are so pleased about what they’re doing. There’s no bitter rivalry.
Every team Xerez Deportivo FC visited this season, earned enough money selling tickets to the ‘blues’ fans to pay all their expenses for the rest of the year. This isn’t dissimilar to what rivals in the bottom tears of English football discovered, after FC United of Manchester were founded. I was told that every match was a party, full of joy, fair play and a friendly atmosphere. At the end of every match, both teams have their photos taken together, because every day Xerez Deportivo FC keeps going, is a day to celebrate for football.
Salvador Galván, Xerez DFC chief press, told me about a match against El Bosque, when Xerez’s bus got stuck in one of the narrow streets of this little town in Cádiz province. Players and staff had to walk from the bus to the stadium, surrounded by their fans. It was one of the first games of the season, it was not a decisive one, but the atmosphere and strong following of fans, made it looked like the build up to a promotion match. Check it out:
Chapín was full of noise when Xerez and Cañorrera players took to the pitch. Chants and firecrackers began to ring around the stadium. It was hard to believe that I was watching a game in the 8th tier of Spanish football, where at best, a couple of hundred hardy fans usually attend games of most teams at this level. Then, I realized that it wouldn’t be just a football match. Even when Cañorrera scored first, the encouragement from the fans and the enthusiasm of the players, didn’t decline.
The ‘Blues’ were losing 0-1 at half time, and Carlos Orúe’s face said everything. “We can’t disappoint our fans and ourselves. We are Xerez,” he told me when I talked to him some days before. I think he said something similar to his players in the locker room. What happened next was epic.
The second half was dominated by Xerez Deportivo,who eventually got the three points thanks to Barba, a former B team player at Xerez CD, who scored twice. Players and fans celebrated the victory together. Kids cheered their heroes, who don’t drive luxury cars or earn millions a year, indeed, some of them haven’t even got a car, sharing a ride to training and matches.
It’s not just a simply triumph. It seems like every time Xerez DFC wins a match, football – real football, not the modern game – is winning too.