The players of Cuenca and Lodigliani, with a banner with the legend “Making friends, not millionaires.” Iván Zahinos
As the football industry prepares for its annual big event, the Champions League final, in the depths of the basement, seven floors below the nobility floor, eight regional-category European clubs go head-to-head with their respective champions of the people. Most do it on rented fields, at best in front of a few hundred fans and with players who, before putting their boots on, are bakers and lawyers; But like the planetary stars, they’ve also toured Europe throughout the season and played throughout the week to take part in games that will be streamed with dual narration (in English and the local language).
The audacity bears the name of the Fenix Trophy, a nod to the popular football (phoenix) that claims its place in times of global markets. And there a Valencian team takes part, Cuenca-Mestallistes, a subsidiary of the Che team in the post-war period, which in two years has gone from an almost hopeless state with no field or squad to being part of this particular tournament. On Wednesdays he hops on a plane to compete in Italy, Germany or the Czech Republic and at the weekend he fights not to be relegated to the second regional league, the bottom league. Like this side, the rest of their continental rivals live between the sixth and eighth tiers of their football.
They are Brera (Milan), United of Manchester (split from the Red Devils when the American Glazer family took over the estate in 2005), Zly (Warsaw), DWS (Amsterdam; Gullit and Rijkaard played there), Lodigliani (Roma; squad where Totti played), Prague Raptors (Czech Republic) and Falke (separated from Hamburg in 2014).
The audacity, of which there is no known precedent, came from the Brera leaders. “In the second Covid wave, we thought about ideas and felt that our only difference in the city from Inter and Milan was the European competitions,” explains Leonardo Aleotti, president of this club founded in 2000. So they started to shift threads and The first team they contacted was Cuenca (originally from Calle Cuenca in Valencia), attracted by its popular character and the figure of its honorary president, Mario Alberto Kempes. And it all ended in a shootout when United of Manchester, the great reference of this type of grassroots institution, agreed to join.
The host team takes over almost all costs of the visitor and the further distribution in “streaming”
“From then on, the effect was a multiplier,” says Vicent Chilet, a Spanish manager and sportswriter. Although not just any team. His identity played a role, but so did other factors. “The sporting level had to be similar and be in well-connected cities,” explains Chilet, one of the people who almost saved Valencia’s third-oldest club from disappearing to transform it into an assembly-like entity.
The Cuenca players with the Falke fans at Hamburg.VC
Creating accessible places so that costs do not skyrocket was one of the premises and the reason for one of the strange episodes of this adventure in the Valencian offices. “Before we played Falke, we received messages on Instagram from their fans asking us when they were going to play in Spain. [las fechas se cuadran según la agenda laboral de los jugadores]. I innocently replied what the prognosis was and 10 minutes later the President called me to say he shouldn’t have revealed it because the fans would take over the plane seats and the team’s trip would be more expensive,” says Chilet , amazed. “It’s the fact that clubs like ours in Spain find it difficult to mingle, only the big ones are interested, but that doesn’t happen elsewhere. Falke brought 100 people with flares and United transferred 400 to Poland,” warns the Spanish director.
There’s not a lot of money in this champion of the humble, so one of the rules is that the host takes care of the visitor’s entire journey, down to the broadcast, and also handles the re-distribution on YouTube (viewing peak has been reached). 6,000 breakdowns with United). “That cost us 14,500 euros, which we covered with two grants from the city, membership fees [unos 120]Raffles, a sponsor… Because entry to our field is free,” explains Vicent Chilet.
The tournament has the approval of UEFA and the aim is to involve more teams and more countries
Split into two groups of four teams with two-round matches in the first phase of the tournament, they were forced to improvise a code of discipline on the side after two Lodigliani players were sent off against Cuenca and the effects of the pandemic forced all Dutch DWS opening round matches to be suspended. With whom there were no scares was with UEFA, supervisor of everything. “Through the Italian federation we have contacted them so that they have news about the tournament. Mainly because United of Manchester, although not yet in the professional category, is quite well known,” says Vicent Chilet. In this case, President Aleksander Ceferin did not object.
The experience went so well that they are already thinking about growing. “In the future we will switch to a knockout format to include more teams from more countries,” expects promoter Aleotti. The possibility of reaching 32 sides in the medium term is on the table and another Spaniard could join them next season, although no one wanted to advance names. For the time being, the final phase will take place on June 10th in Rimini (Italy) on the Adriatic coast. Lodigliani and United of Manchester are the big favorites for the first title of this regional European football champion.
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