The year of change in Spanish football: Barça, accused of the ‘Negreira case’; exodus from LaLiga to Arabia; a ‘multi-trainer’ club and Spain touches the sky

Turbulence, controversies and, especially, changes. Spanish football is another since the last time we sat down to dinner on New Year’s Eve with our loved ones. At that time, what happened on the field of play was the focus of every topic of conversation related to football, now the offices have taken the place of the ball. The epicenter was Sydney, but the earthquake reached Las Rozas. There was also movement in the investigating court number 1 Barcelona with the Negreira case. And in the Court of Justice of the European Union with the Super League and even in Zurich, where Spain made sure to host the 2030 World Cup. However, there were also moments of hustle and bustle on the pitch. See the Nations League won by Spain, Rodri’s promotion to Olympus and the emergence of Bellingham. All this with Saudi Arabia as a football agitator.

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Seven years ago it was China, seasons later Qatar and this summer Saudi Arabia has picked up the baton as the most media-driven and agitating league in a transfer market. In December of last year, Cristiano Ronaldo opened a path that several players from the best foreign and national clubs have followed this season. Benzema, Carrasco, Gabri Veiga, Kessié, Juanmi, Bono, Enzo Roco, Collado and El Yamiq They decided to stop writing their name in European glory to start doing it with golden letters in the Saudi league. A championship that has incorporated renowned players as a result of the country’s overall management.

It is the state itself, through its Public Investment Fund (PIF), who undertakes the operations. The PIF controls 75% of its four most powerful teams: Al Ittihad, Al Nassr, Al Ahli and Al Hilal. “It is already the most important championship in Asia and in two or three years will be of the world. They are looking to bring in younger players and the fact that they have limited money makes it so that no one can compete against them. They pay net salaries five or ten times higher than in European leagues. They are also building new stadiums and infrastructure, it is a very competitive league,” Raúl Caneda, former coach of Al Ittihad, told Infobae Spain.

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He landed in Madrid being a stranger to those who did not follow the Bundesliga, but the price paid by Real Madrid – more than 100 million euros – gave the status of summer signing to a boy who was only 19 years old when he took over. carry out the operation. The stage fright of playing at the Santiago Bernabéu, the pressure of the price of his transfer, the demand for the Real Madrid shirt… nothing has been able to stop a Bellingham who has offered the Madrid parish more afternoons of fun than appear on his ID in years. His face is on all the covers, his shirt runs out of the store’s stock and his goals lift up the Bernabéu crowd. 17 points and five assists. Translated into words it means the best season of his career.

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2023 will go down in history as the year in which Rodri was crowned the best pivot in the world. With Spain he has won the Nations League and with Manchester City the Premier, FA Cup, European Super Cup, Club World Cup and Champions League, leaving the last tournament being elected MVP and scoring the only goal. He only missed the English Super Cup. He was the only Spaniard who was in contention to win the Ballon d’Or; he finally finished fifth, but not without collecting countless individual awards. He was chosen MVP of the Champions League and the Nations League, won the Ballon d’Or of the Club World Cup and was chosen in the Premier’s ‘Team of the Year’ by the PFA (Players Association). “Everyone talks about Haaland, but without Rodri this would not be possible. He has become our best midfielder. He has completed an imperial year,” acknowledged Pep Guardiola. 2023, a before and after for Rodri.

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LaLiga, Premier League, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 all have one thing in common: the coaches of the leading team are Spanish: Míchel, Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso and Luis Enrique respectively. This statement was true until Arsenal’s defeat at the hands of West Ham which places Arteta’s men two points off the lead. Míchel’s Girona has broken the mold with the co-leadership in the middle of the season, Luis Enrique’s PSG rules in France after a hesitant start to the season and Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen lights up Germany.

“I want us to be a very complete, stable team that controls the games and has a competitive mentality. We must know how to play games and endure difficult moments. I don’t want it to be Xabi’s Bayer“I want this to be a team,” the San Sebastian coach assured Infobae Spain during the stage Leverkusen preseason. The aspirins chose Saalfelden, in the heart of the Austrian Alps, as a base camp and laboratory to test until they found the perfect formula. Months later, all the elements have connected. Of the major leagues, the only exception is the Italian Serie A and because there is no Spanish coach in the first division. Yes there is in the second division, Cesc Fabregaswhich is third with Como.

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He Negreira case is back in the spotlight. And with him, the FC Barcelona. The judge’s decision to accuse the Barça entity of bribery leads to doubts arising, once again, about the sporting consequences that could have the controversy in Can Barça. With no chance of Real spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and The league act, the ball is in the court of the UEFA: If there is punishment, it will be at the international level. “This passage of justice through criminal channels may once again open the possibility that UEFA continues with its file and ends up sanctioning FC Barcelona. Maybe, not being able to compete in the Champions League next year,” says Gonzalo Jiménez Illana, Sports Law partner at Martínez-Echevarría Abogados, to Infobae Spain.

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October 4, 2023 will be a day remembered in the history of Spanish sports. FIFA confirmed that Spain, along with Portugal and Morocco, will host the next 2030 Soccer World Cup. With the exception of three games, among them the inaugural one, which will take place in South America, more specifically in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, to commemorate the 100 years of the first World Cup held precisely in Uruguay. The Government figures in 1.4 billion euros investment to host the World Cup. An amount much lower than the 200,000 million that Qatar spent to organize the last tournament. In this way, Spain will once again host a soccer World Cup 48 years later.

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“Have potential to win the next Euro Cup”, believes Luis de la Fuente. Spain, driven by the conquest of the last Nations League, will seek in Berlin what was achieved in Madrid (1964), Vienna (2008) and kyiv (2012). La Roja bathed in Champagne again after eleven years without feeling a drop on her body. An agonizing goal by Morata in Braga against Portugal took the ticket to the final four of the Nations League where Unai Simón’s gloves in the penalty shootout against Croatia sealed the fifth title for the men’s national team that already knows its way to Berlin . Italy, Albania and Croatia itself will be the rivals to beat starting next June 15. Spain is excited again.

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“Sevilla FC announces that it has dismissed –insert name– as the white and red coach.” It has been the most repeated phrase in the Andalusian club’s communications. On three occasions he spoke out make way for four different coaches in 365 days. 2023 began with Sampaoli occupying the Seville bench and ends with Quique Sánchez Flores occupying it. Along the way have been José Luis Mendilibar, who picked up a club fighting for relegation and turned it into Europa League champion in just two months, and Diego Alonso, the last one left at Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán due to poor results. A coaching crisis that reflects the institutional one, represented by José María del Nido father, son and Pepe Castro.