Every game played by the Fortaleza club, recently promoted to the first division of Colombian football, leaves behind financial losses. The Bogotá team does not have its own playing field. No subscribers. And between the cost of stadium rental for home games, emergency services contracts and other logistical matters, operating costs run up to 25 million pesos (about $6,500). A number that is far from balancing the cash flow with a maximum box office result of 10 million (approx. 2,500 US dollars). However, his story continues to be interwoven and the hearts of his few supporters will be forged next year against historical figures such as Millonarios, Nacional or América.
Deportes Tolima will be the rivals in their debut on January 20th in hot Ibagué. A perfect appointment for communications director Santiago Montejo to surprise with a new media coup. It all started in 2018 when designers decided to print “emojis” on the team’s two official T-shirts. The decision soon found its way into the pages of sports newspapers around the world, where it was reported that the idea arose from a survey of 2,000 children who train at the club's quarries. “It was a way to gain the support of social media users through digital language,” explains Montejo.
Today the team ranks eighth among Colombian football clubs in terms of the number of followers in X. And at the beginning of 2022, according to the ranking of the specialist publication Sports and Finance, it reached fifth place in the number of interactions in social networks: “This success is very important.” Because followers are one thing, but the frequency with the networks in which we interact, commenting or giving reactions is another,” Montejo adds. Quite an achievement for a club founded in 2010 that is in the process of shaping its identity, attracting fans and staying in the A division.
That's why marketing references are already a trademark of the company. In 2021, Fortaleza players presented their new attire after jumping onto the pitch wearing a superhero cape and troll glasses (an icon of the digital world). And in 2023 they did it with a gold boxer-style robe, under which they wore the new white T-shirt with a print that simulated the musculature of a “space armor” like Robocop: “With the robe we wanted to capture the mystique of. “ Boxing and also what they called Messi when he won the World Cup in Qatar. That’s why we chose the golden edge,” Montejo continues.
Fortaleza players before a game last season.Fortaleza CEIF (Courtesy)
But the sporting success of no football team in the world has ever depended on advertising. The project is backed by a dozen investors who took control last year after purchasing all shares in the club. The visible head is former football player, businessman and player representative Lucas Jaramillo. His proposal is to structure a unit with the highest level of transparency, organization and sports management. A task that brings with it numerous challenges in a terrain as complicated as Colombian football.
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It's no secret to anyone that betting networks, match fixing and drug money laundering are also the order of the day in the deserted stands of the second division. It is worth remembering that at the beginning of the 80s the Club América de Cali was on the verge of signing Maradona and that the coffers of other companies such as Millonarios or Atlético Nacional acted as Box B for drug cartels. These days it's much harder to tell who is who in the team org chart. However, there are still images to be seen, such as that of Unión Magdalena's dubious goal against Llaneros in the 2021 final, which destroys any hope of credibility.
Andrés López, managing director and partner of Fortaleza, emphasizes that the journey since his arrival in Fortaleza in 2018 has been as complex as it has been rewarding: “Being decent and cleaning things up already makes a difference.” I'm not saying that “All the clubs are dirty, but in general it's still an under-controlled and unconventional industry.” How is it kept running? “The club’s income component consists of three recurring pillars. What comes in through Dimayor (main department of Colombian football) comes from the collection of television rights or sponsorship. Secondly, the club sponsorships. Thirdly, the income from our training schools,” explains López.
Located in a rural area on the outskirts of Bogotá, the Fortaleza Academy welcomes more than 1,600 children who have the opportunity to attend the Fortaleza School. An institution for children who want to combine their studies with a focus on sports. Another source of resources is player transfers: “But they are very variable. One year there may be more money left over than the annual operation, and the next year the club may have a deficit if not even one operation is given to another team. That’s why I take it out of the operating balance sheet,” recalls López.
Fortaleza has decided to retain its squad for the first half of 2024. It is the third time it competes in the first class, where it has already made brief advances in 2014 and 2016 without managing to retain the category. The next step, in addition to consolidating a good campaign and gaining advantages, is to strengthen the club's identity. A good place to start would be to find out where the name comes from. And the only one who knows the story may be the president, shareholder and former technical director Carlos Barato. The process is as follows. Former soccer player Ricardo Gato Pérez and Víctor Manuel López, a wealthy transport entrepreneur, bought the record in 2010 from a very modest, debt-ridden club called Atlético Juventud Girardot. The acquisition included the land on which they trained on the Suba-Cota road north of Bogotá.
Carlos Barato, President and former Technical Director of Fortaleza.Fortaleza CEIF (Courtesy)
In this way, Atlético Juventud Girardot gave way to the new Fortaleza FC in 2011. The infrastructure of the sports headquarters, where the entrance gate and other corners barely aimed to imitate aspects of medieval architecture, gave the new team its name. Today, the new communications managers have swapped the old shield tower for a fist that focuses the message on “human virtue and the sense of celebration.” We transfer power to the human gesture of clenching the fist as an expression of victory,” argues Montejo.
Who will go to the stadium to see Fortaleza in first class? Where could Fortaleza recruit its fans? In which stadium? These are some of the puzzles that cross the minds of managers today. “We distribute tickets to all affiliated children and affiliated players,” explains club administrator Francisco Serrano. “The idea is that they start bringing their companions, their closest family members. If we brought more people, maybe around 2,000 people arrived, and at other, less attractive parties, maybe 500 arrived.
Another problem is that the capital's fans already divide their loyalty between the traditional Millonarios and Santa Fe. Or a newer squad but with its own stadium and a fairly defined popular character, like La Equidad. Santiago Montejo recalls one of the formulas used to bring fans together: “We invented the concept of 'Miti-Miti fans'. The idea was to invite fans of other teams to the stadium with their own jerseys, but to support Fortaleza.”
However, Montejo himself is aware that the implementation of his idea in the first category will be more complex. Among the options being explored is moving to a nearby town like Zipaquirá: “It's just an example. But strategies can be implemented with the population in a nearby community that has a stadium suitable for professional games and already has a foothold there. Start captivating the fans,” says Andrés López. Normally one would assume that the team will find its niche. And Santiago Montejo already has something in mind: “Next January 20th we will come to class with the face of a new child. “The student who has new dreams in his head, with the illusion intact that every step in the major leagues is something new and the goal is permanence.”
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