A five a side football pitch in the town of Antequera—not typically a Spanish soccer hub.
Sevilla? Tick. Real Betis? Tick. Málaga? Tick. Almería? Tick. Granada? Tick. Cádiz? Tick. Antequera?
Of all the soccer clubs populating Spain’s Andalusia region, the last name on that list seems a misfit. That’s because Antequera CF has never so much reached the country’s second division, is only 32 years old, and comes from a city with a population close to some of its neighbors’ stadium capacities—around 50,000.
Southern Spain is a go-to destination for holiday-makers from U.K. shores. And in February earlier this year, an English businessman called Mike Garlick went one better, acquiring the lesser-known team for an undisclosed fee. Antequera becoming a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva (essentially registering as a proper business) paved the way for the Brit to seal the deal.
The former chairman of Burnley, where he grew up, had reportedly been interested in taking over another Spanish lower-league outfit: Real Balompédica Linense. However, he eventually settled on Antequera, with understandable curiosity surrounding the move—Garlick, whose net worth is reportedly in the tens of millions of dollars, had overseen the Clarets’ climb to the bright lights of the Premier League and now wanted this more obscure challenge abroad.
Except the project makes plenty of sense when broken down. You only need to look at Garlick’s LinkedIn profile, where he uses words like “strategic” and “organically” when outlining the rise of his 35-year-old workforce consultancy corporation, Michael Bailey Associates, to sense his approach to soccer ownership. Antequera is not used to wealth, so he was hot on sustainability upon arrival. At Burnley, he warned that big clubs reaping the most television money would dent fair competition.
Garlick has a close connection with Burnley, now in England’s second tier.
Alongside naturally growing a team, Spain has a clear appeal. Though the lower leagues don’t have the same publicity as La Liga, the country’s soccer caliber is so high and the culture so rich that scratching beneath the surface to get your hands on a third-level outfit, which Antequera is, is a clever ploy. The side can test its wits against names like Hércules, once a force, and a string of La Liga B-teams—whose youngsters sometimes break into the more distinguished senior squads.
Oh, and Málaga province is a lovely place to live.
Antequera’s Ambitions
Antequera is sitting pretty atop the Primera Federación, with 28 points from 15 games and a chance of winning promotion to the second tier. It’s not been all dominance, however. Despite losing just once, it’s tied as many games (seven) as it’s won and has regularly come from behind in matches, often scoring late.
Trained by young coach Javi Medina, the squad doing the business is mainly Spanish but also includes the 36-year-old Frenchman Jonathan Biabiany, who some may remember as one of the fastest players around on the FIFA console games, and Argentine number eight Tomás Lanzini, brother of ex-West Ham star Manuel.
With a wealthy backer, Antequera is not quite a Moneyball story, yet it’s aiming to build carefully from the ground up. Without spending any money on transfers during the offseason, Antequera has instead focused on infrastructure. In July, the local council subsidized the El Mauli stadium’s playing field with €200,000 ($212,000). Royalverd, the company taking care of the grass at La Liga sides Atlético Madrid and Real Betis, is now maintaining the surface after an agreement in August.
Antequera is still miles away from the standard of the more recognized teams in Andalusia, let alone Spain. But at a time where Sevilla and Betis are the only two representing the nation’s second-largest region in La Liga, it may not be too long before Garlick’s venture pays dividends and the team in green and white adds its name to the list of big shots in the land. It’s on an upward trajectory.
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