Málaga CF
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 01/2016
Full name
Málaga Club de Fútbol
Nicknames
Los Boquerones (The Anchovies),
Albicelestes (The White and Sky Blue)
Founded
1904
Ground
La Rosaleda
Capacity
30,044
Owner
Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani
President
Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani
Manager
Javi Gracia
League
La Liga
2014-15
La Liga, 9th
Málaga Club de Fútbol, or simply Málaga, is a Spanish football club based in Málaga, Spain.
The team currently plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football.
The club has played 35 seasons in La Liga, 34 in Segunda División, four in Segunda División B and eleven in Tercera División.
They also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002 and qualified to the following season's UEFA Cup, reaching the quarter-final stages.
They also qualified for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League, where they were quarter-finalists.
Since June 2010, the owner of the club is Qatari investor Abdullah bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Ahmed Al Thani.
HISTORY
Club replacement in 1992
CD Málaga had a reserve club, founded on 25 May 1948 when CD Málaga took over a junior club, CD Santo Tomás, with the purpose of establishing a reserve team. The club was renamed Club Atlético Malagueño, reviving the name of one of the two clubs that had merged to form CD Málaga in 1933.
60 season, CA Malagueño and CD Málaga found themselves together in the third level.
As a reserve team, the former should have been relegated.
To avoid this, they separated from their parent club and registered as an independent club with the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
In 1992, when CD Málaga dissolved after financial difficulties, CA Malagueño continued playing.
The 1992-93 season saw them playing in Tercera División Group 9.
After a successful campaign, the club was promoted to Segunda División B.
The following season, however, the club was relegated again and, facing financial difficulties, were in danger of folding.
On 19 December 1993, in a referendum, the club's members voted in favour of changing names and, on 29 June 1994, CA Malagueño changed their name to Málaga Club de Fútbol S.A.D., becoming an official successor to what was previously called Club Deportivo Málaga.
Rise to prominence in the early 2000s
In the early 2000s, Málaga were a club rich in youth and top quality players, and boasted a more modern and developed stadium.
Although they never pushed for a Champions League place, Málaga were always successful under the popular Joaquín Peiró.
They made a solitary appearance in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2002, clinching their only official trophy by beating Gent, Willem II and an improving Villarreal.
Málaga's run in the UEFA Cup was something of an overachievement, and ended in a defeat on penalties in the quarter-finals to Boavista, after beating Željezničar Sarajevo, (who had been eliminated from the Champions League by Newcastle United), Amica Wronki, Leeds United (after a 2:1 win at Elland Road, courtesy of two Julio Dely Valdés goals) and AEK Athens.
After Peiró's retirement, a mass exodus slowly started.
Darío Silva, Kiki Musampa, Dely Valdés and Pedro Contreras all left the club.
Juande Ramos took over as coach and oversaw a 5:1 home thrashing of Barcelona, the club's biggest victory against the Catalan giants, with a hat-trick from loanee Salva Ballesta, who would end up missing out on the Pichichi Trophy by just two goals. Ramos, however, left for Sevilla and Gregorio Manzano took charge.
Slow decline and financial issues
Although steering Málaga to their second consecutive tenth-placed finish, Manzano could not prevent a lacklustre side from being relegated, and they finished bottom of the league with a paltry 24 points to their name.
Málaga began the new second division season well.
However, their form dipped dramatically and for two of the remaining six weeks were in the relegation zone.
Málaga managed to address this situation and survived their first Segunda season.
The 2007-08 Segunda División also began impressively, with seven straight victories. Málaga seemed to be on track for promotion but, after another slump in form, they were overtaken as leaders by Numancia.
They needed a victory in their final game, at home to Tenerife, to assure promotion. Two goals from Antonio Hidalgo secured a 2:1 triumph and Málaga returned to the top flight as runners-up.
Abdullah Al Thani era (2010-present)
Due to the club's economic problems, the at time president Fernando Sanz found investments at Doha in Qatar to launch an ambitious project, entering in conversations with sheikh Abdullah ben Nasser Al Thani.
On 11 June 2010, after week of negotiations, Al Thani became in the entity's new owner, being named president on 28 July in the members' meeting.
On 28 June 2010, Jesualdo Ferreira was appointed as coach and Moayad Shatat was appointed as a vice president and general manager.
Following this was the signing of prominent players like Salomón Rondón and Eliseu.
In November, however, Jesualdo was fired because he had not obtained the desired performance, positioning the club in the relegation places.
Later, Shatat confirmed Manuel Pellegrini as coach.
Under "The caretaker" in charge, it was decided to discard players of the squad and strengthen with players like centre back Martín Demichelis and midfielder Júlio Baptista.
After a record five consecutive La Liga wins, alongside a draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés at the start of January 2011, helped the team maintain momentum in the league, finishing the 2010-11 season in 11th place.
In preparation for the 2011-12 season, the club signed with Nike as supplier of the club's kits.
Málaga also reached a collaboration agreement with UNESCO, which, in addition, became the principal sponsor of the club's kit.
The more prominent signings of that season were the Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy, the ex-Lyon French midfielder, Jérémy Toulalan, and the most expensive signing in the club's history, Santi Cazorla, who arrived from Villarreal in a €21 million deal.
Other less prominent players like Isco, former Spanish international midfielder Joaquín and left back Nacho Monreal, were key in the successful season which followed for Málaga, where the club qualified for first time in its history for the Champions League after finishing the 2011-12 La Liga campaign in fourth.
In their first ever participation in the Champions League, Málaga were paired with Italian giants Milan and reigning Belgian and Russian champions Anderlecht and Zenit Saint Petersburg, respectively.
Malaga made it out of the group stage unbeaten, winning against all three clubs.
In the Round of 16, the team drew Portuguese champions Porto, losing the first away game 1:0 while winning at home 2:0, advancing to the quarter-finals.
In a highly-anticipated tie against German champions Borussia Dortmund, the home game ended 0:0, leaving Malagauistas with a reasonable chance to advance on the back of a draw in the away fixture.
In a second leg marked by controversial referee decisions, the scoreboard showed 1:2 at the full 90 minutes mark, seemingly ensuring Málaga's place in the semi-finals, but two late goals by Marco Reus (90+1th minute) and Felipe Santana (90+3th minute) turned the table in favour of the home team.
Immediately after the elimination, club President Abdullah Al Thani announced a formal complaint would be filed with UEFA and FIFA.
The following season, Málaga was banned by UEFA, along with other clubs for its debts, so the agency in a statement declared that the club will be excluded from a subsequent competition, for which it would otherwise qualify, in the next four seasons.
However, the ban was eventually downgraded to one season and the club was excluded from the 2013–14 Europa League.
In the summer of 2013, Isco was sold to Real Madrid, Joaquín to Fiorentina and midfielder Jérémy Toulalan to Monaco.
The managerial position also changed, with Bernd Schuster taking over from Manuel Pellegrini.