The phrase will be remembered for many years. Was when Arthur Elijah, before getting emotional saying goodbye to Oviedo, explained his departure and the sale to the Pachuca group after 9 years of total control. “The club needs a much more professional structure than I can offer,” said the former top shareholder. Pachuca, the new owner, can. That is why he has come. That is the plan of the new owners of Oviedo and the idea is to get involved beyond sports.
There are several new faces that will have a lot to say in the new times to come. This Jesus Martinez, the owner; this Martin Pelaezwho will be the president; Jose Ramon Fernandez, corporate vice president… But there’s more. They say in Mexico that she, in the background, has been fundamental in the development of the group. Jesús Martínez himself cited it in his speech. And she, shortly after picking up the phone, is already putting future projects for Oviedo on the table. «It would be great, now that the group has joined the club, to be able to establish academic research links through the University of Oviedo. For us, the educational section is fundamental », she explains to LA NUEVA ESPAÑA Gabriela Murguiawho is the rector of the University of Soccer and Sports Sciences of the Pachuca Group and general director of the Mexican corporation, in addition to the wife of Jesús Martínez.
Sources from Pachuca emphasize the importance that Murguía has in the company, being a fundamental part of its development in recent years. “The University is a pillar for us within our business model,” says Murguía.
The Pachuca soccer team, one of those owned by the Mexican corporation, shares facilities with the aforementioned university, which has its own student residence, and also with the Center of Medical Excellence, which is a specialized hospital that was built in 2006 and Carlos Slim, already the former maximum shareholder of Oviedo through the Carso Group, participated in the start-up of the project. It has the endorsement of FIFA, as Martínez explained on Wednesday. The business emporium covers more sectors: they have restaurant businesses and also the well-known Soccer Hall of Fame, although the academic side is the best known.
“At the University we have about 1,200 students and 300 professors,” explains the rector, who admits that she wants to visit Oviedo soon and see first-hand the new area of Pachuca. All the infrastructures that the new blue owner has may sound strange in Oviedo, accustomed for some time to this part of managing few resources and with the eternal problems of El Requexón.
Pachuca will go little by little, but he already has new ideas in mind. “It would be interesting to start a comprehensive project and it would be very interesting how to complement the sports part with the academic one,” explains Murguía. The Pachuca model, therefore, encompasses much more than high-level football. “We have different modalities in the students. Sports talents study here and are trained in the academic part. We also have young people who study, but with no intention of having a sports career. Or those who play sports, but are not high-performance », he assures. There are several careers: Sports Medicine, Physical Therapy, Sports Nutrition, Marketing, Physical Education… The aforementioned model, they admit behind the scenes in Pachuca, needs time and resources, but the plan is to turn Oviedo upside down.
One of the Asturian women who knows best how the Pachuca group works is Toña Is, who until last year was the coach of the Pachuca women’s team. «Her strong point is the work of the quarry. Pachuca, in Mexico, has a great presence and in almost all the clubs there are players from their teams. Above all, they stand out in the organization, much more than we do in Spanish football,” says Is, who was also coach of Oviedo.
“They invest a lot in scouts: people who go all over the country looking for young talent. That, detecting talent, I think is Pachuca’s greatest virtue.” The woman from Oviedo describes the infrastructures of the Mexican group. “They have a soccer city that is amazing: I have never seen what they have there. The girls have their own facilities and it is difficult to see professional teams in Spain with so many resources at their fingertips». Women’s soccer, according to Jesús Martínez in his presentation, will be another of Pachuca’s pillars.
The Women’s Oviedo shares the brand with the men’s, but the management goes in different ways. Is also highlights the human side of Pachuca’s managers, whom she defines as “empathic.” She explains it like this: “The directors are very close. They are soccer people, who are always aware of the workers. You can talk to them at any time and when I trained they went to all the games », summarizes her Is.
The Pachuca method will take time in Oviedo, but there is confidence. “The project is something that is not done overnight, but I think we are going to see Real Oviedo grow and with Pachuca we will see it where we all want it, in the First Division”.
