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Three years ago today, Girona were preparing for what was already a key game of the season — even at the early stage.
Michel was two months into his job as manager and his new side had suffered three consecutive defeats against Ponferradina, Sporting Gijon and Malaga in the Spanish second division. On September 18 2021, Real Valladolid were the visitors in what was already being considered a must-win match.
It would be more than fair to say Michel turned things around. Valladolid were beaten 1-0. Girona went up to La Liga that season through the play-offs. This evening, they will make their Champions League debut after a sensational top-flight campaign last term.
There are a few things you need to know about Girona. In 1999, they were playing in the fifth tier. As recently as 2006-07, they were in Spain’s Tercera Division (which back then was the country’s fourth-highest league). Girona, the 11th-most populous city in Catalonia, is not a place known for its sporting achievements.
“Girona citizens were mainly Barcelona, Real Madrid or even Espanyol fans,” Girona president Delfi Geli, a former club player, told The Athletic last year.
“I’ve seen football games at Montilivi (Girona’s 14,624-capacity home stadium) with 200 people in the stands. This was our reality and the closest we could get to the elite. The city once had a basketball team in the national top flight, but football… you had to look elsewhere.”
The story of how Girona managed to go from an amateur football institution to a Champions League football club is seen as a fairytale. But it’s a success story that was supercharged by the risk of bankruptcy.
As Girona were establishing themselves into the Spanish second tier in 2013, they entered insolvency proceedings after building up a reported €2.3million ($2.5m; £2m) debt with the Spanish tax authorities — and a further €800,000 debt with public health services.
This is when then-majority owner Josep Delgado, a local businessman, began to look for a way out. That search for a new investor ended up with Pere Guardiola, the brother of Manchester City manager Pep, stepping in. He acted as a mediator with French investors TVSE Futbol to buy an 80 per cent stake in the club.
According to Spanish media reports, the selling price was set at €2.6million, with €380,000 required to cover short-term costs such as players’ salaries. It saved Girona in the short term — and in the longer term served as a stepping stone for City Football Group (CFG) to eventually join the project.
That would take place in the summer of 2017. Before then, Girona suffered three promotion play-off defeats in four years (2013, 2015, 2016) before finally reaching their target of making it to La Liga. After a second-place finish in Spain’s second tier in 2016-17, CFG and Pere Guardiola purchased the stakes TVSE Futbol owned, and Girona became a CFG satellite club.
One player who lived through all this is club captain and former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani. The 37-year-old, who signed for the club in 2017, has been through one relegation from La Liga, two failed attempts to get back to the top flight, and one promotion.
Stuani is the player with the most goals in Girona’s time in Spanish professional football, with 132 in 251 games, and the most important player in the club’s history. He stayed in Girona after relegation in 2018-19, rejecting proposals from La Liga and making compromises with his salary to stay. Nobody forgets that in Girona.
Now he is far from his peak, and the squad has younger and more promising strikers such as Spanish Olympic champion Abel Ruiz, 24, or 25-year-old North Macedonia forward Bojan Miovski, but the Uruguayan is still important. This week, Michel confirmed Stuani will start in Paris.
It’s clear to see why this evening’s fixture at Paris Saint-Germain should be considered the biggest day in the club’s history by some distance. The club will be formally received in Paris by a delegation of Catalonia’s regional government, who will honour the club’s achievements. On the eve of the game, directors will attend a dinner with their PSG counterparts inside the Parc des Princes. The mayor of Girona planned to attend the game, and 1,000 travelling fans are expected.
They have already been on quite the ride to get here.
Girona’s remarkable achievements last season saw them finish third in La Liga with 81 points, just four points behind second-placed Barcelona — who they beat twice (4-2 home and away. They scored 85 goals in 38 games, with only champions Real Madrid scoring more (87).
The team’s attacking-minded, fearless and passionate approach brought Michel and his players the most plaudits. But since then, they have had to rebuild.
This summer, Girona lost La Liga’s top scorer last season Artem Dovbyk (24 goals) to a deal with Roma worth about €40million. Bayer Leverkusen signed midfielder Aleix Garcia for €18m. Brazilian winger Savio, who was on loan from CFG sister club Troyes, has joined Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, wing-back Yan Couto (who was on loan from City) has joined Borussia Dortmund and centre-back Eric Garcia has returned to Barcelona after also starring on loan.
Girona’s sporting director Quique Carcel had a tough job to do in reassembling a whole new team with aspirations to compete in the Champions League. They spent a reported total of €44million on 11 new signings, and broke their old transfer record fee (€8m for Dovbyk) three times. According to club sources — who, like all those cited here, preferred to speak anonymously to protect relationships — some were secured thanks to the good publicity the project has earned.
The biggest signing was Yaser Asprilla from Watford, who arrived in a deal worth an initial €18million, with a further €6m dependent on add-ons.
Asprilla and his family were treated to a charm offensive that included a tour through the city and the club’s facilities. A clear plan was outlined on how Girona would provide the best platform for him to keep progressing. Asprilla had more lucrative proposals from the Premier League, but he turned them down.
Wingers Bryan Gil (Tottenham Hotspur; loan) and Arnaut Danjuma (Villarreal; loan) were also convinced Girona was the best possible club to reignite their careers, at a stalling point in their respective clubs. Donny van de Beek signed after leaving Manchester United.
Gil was a target for his boyhood club Sevilla, but Girona ended up being the most appealing proposal. Danjuma, a signing finalised on deadline day, was determined to play Champions League football and chose Girona instead of Ligue 1 side Lille. Sources involved in the negotiations said Villarreal, Danjuma’s parent club, saw in Girona a better scenario for the player to gain value before next summer’s transfer window.
Last September, Girona had the 14th-highest salary limit of La Liga clubs, at €52million (way behind Real Madrid’s €727million, Atletico’s €296m and Barca’s €270m). This term, that has jumped to €94m — now seven clubs are above them.
La Liga’s salary limits are set individually for clubs and are calculated according to a club’s revenue. Girona’s is set to experience a significant boost.
They announced income of €55million in 2022 and €60m in 2023. Club sources now say they expect to announce income of well over €100m before the end of this year — thanks to the impact of Champions League qualification and player sales this summer. But reaching Europe’s elite club competition has brought a few headaches, too.
Earlier this year, Girona’s very participation in the competition had a big question mark around it. In order for both Manchester City and Girona to take part in the Champions League, UEFA rules on multi-club ownership had to be met. This summer, there was another change in the Catalan club’s ownership structure.
CFG reduced its shares to 30 per cent of Girona — the maximum UEFA would allow — by selling 17 per cent to an independent blind trust. The three CFG executives that were part of Girona’s board also had to step down.
Then there is the stadium. Girona’s small Montilivi home, built in 1970, offers limited room for expansion as it’s located close to a hill and borders multiple local university buildings.
In La Liga, the ground can hold just under 15,000 fans, of which about 6,000 are housed in temporary stands. Those are not permitted for UEFA competition, so capacity for home Champions League games is down to around 9,700. The expectation for away fans is to have only 700 tickets available for every game in Montilivi.
At the end of last season, Girona executives explored the possibility of playing Champions League games in Barcelona, either at Barca’s temporary home the Estadi Lluis Companys or Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium. Both hold over 40,000 and an analysis made by Girona estimated that a further €4million could be brought in through further ticket sales.
After multiple discussions, Girona’s board of directors decided the team should stay at Montilivi. The club wanted to make sure their most loyal fans, and the city as well, could experience top level European football in their own home. From a financial perspective, there is also a belief that by playing in Montilivi the team has a bigger chance of winning games, therefore recouping the money that playing in Barcelona would have provided.
UEFA has required Girona build a new media area in the stadium to satisfy the Champions League demands. They also have a new press conference room, located in the stadium’s basement in a space that was formerly the player’s gym. Two temporary tents outside the stadium will become UEFA’s hosting spaces.
When Girona finally make their home bow in the competition — they welcome Feyenoord on October 2 — the Montilivi will become the smallest stadium to host a Champions League game open to the public over the past decade.
But before that, the first step on their European adventure comes at PSG.
(Top photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
