Elton SerraReading: 5 min.
In its first few months as a member of City Football Group, which acquired 90% of the club’s SAF, Bahia lives a moment of search for identity within the four lines. With a 64% performance in the season, the tricolor won the 50th state title in its history and secured an advantage in the third phase of the Brazil’s Cup by beating Volta Redonda by 2-1, away from home, in the first leg. With the work questioned by the failure in the Copa do Nordeste – including significant defeats against Fortaleza and Sport -, coach Renato Paiva has still divided the fans’ opinion, mainly due to the performance below the investment made by the CFG so far. The team debuts in Brazilian championship this Saturday against Red Bull Bragantinoat Nabi Abi Chedid Stadium.
With a promise to inject BRL 1 billion in 15 years, City Football Group started the 2023 season announcing 17 reinforcements – four of them coming from the conglomerate itself: midfielders Diego Rosa and Nicolás Acevedo, and forwards Kayky and Arthur Sales. Acevedo was at New York City and Sales at Lommel SK, from Belgium, while Rosa and Kayky had no chance at Manchester City and were loaned out to Portuguese clubs before returning to Brazil. The group also spent considerable amounts on players such as striker Ademir, one of the highlights of the Atlético-MG in 2022, and Jhoanner Chávez, side champion of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana with Independiente Del Valle and considered the biggest purchase made by a club from the Northeast in history, with amounts exceeding 3 million euros.
Even with the oscillation, which at this moment shows a team in an upward trend, Bahia believes that everything is as expected, and that until the Brazilian Championship the team will be more robust. This confidence is linked to the experiences of other clubs in the City Group, which secured its earliest achievement in Salvador after joining a football club.
Three years until the first title
Manchester City was bought at the start of the 2008-2009 season by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. In the first transfer window, the English club announced six signings: Robinho, Jô, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Zabaleta, Kompany and Ben Haim. Six months later, in the winter window, Nigel de Jong, Craig Bellamy, Wayne Bridge and Shay Given were signed. Investments in the initial season amounted to 157 million euros, but the citzens ended Premier League in 10th position, in addition to having fallen in the quarterfinals of the Europa League, in the second phase of the League Cup and in the third phase of the FA Cup.
City’s first title was only won in the 2010-2011 season. The club signed names like Edin Dzeko, Yaya Touré, Mario Balotelli, David Silva, Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner and Jérôme Boateng, but only won the FA Cup. In the previous season, they finished 5th in the Premier League after making more investment in weight players: Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez, Joleon Lescott, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Toure, Gareth Barry, Adam Johnson, Patrick Vieira and Sylvinho were some of them. Until lifting the first cup, Mansour bin Zayed invested a total of 487 million euros.
In the 2011-2012 season, Manchester City continued to spend everything it could on the international market, but with lower amounts compared to previous years. 91 million euros were invested in Aguero, Sami Nasri, Stefan Savic, Gael Clichy and Costel Pantilimon. With a consistent and exciting campaign, they won the Premier League in the last round, with a saving goal by Aguero, and started a dynasty that lasts until the present day. Manchester’s blue team has 29 titles in its history, 17 of them conquered after the purchase.
‘Loyalty’ to coaches
Even with the irregular start at Bahia, coach Renato Paiva remains secure in his position, to the point of stating that he was “very calm” with his work at the club, supported by the CFG. In fact, the number of dismissals made by the group is very low.
It is important to contextualize: City Football Group was created in 2013 and its CEO is Ferran Soriano, former vice-president of Barcelona between 2003 and 2008 and a trusted man of Pep Guardiola. Since the creation of the group, clubs such as New York City, Melbourne City and Yokohama Marinos were acquired, expanding the Arab business network around the world.
Before that, Manchester City had already applied the idea of medium and long-term jobs. Welshman Mark Hughes took over the team in June 2008 and remained until December of the following year, when he gave way to Roberto Mancini. The Italian won the first group titles and fulfilled his contract until May 2013. The Chilean Manuel Pellegrini stayed until 2016, and the Spaniard Pep Guardiola became the reference from then on. There are four technicians in almost 15 years.
Examples in other clubs
As with Manchester City, patience with the work of coaches is also seen in other clubs in the group. The idea is to transform Bahia into the CFG’s second team, due to its history, the market in which it operates and the competitive level of South American football, and therefore examples applied in the United States, Australia and Japan serve as a reference.
New York officially became a CFG club in May 2013, and started playing in Major League Soccer only in 2015. There are five coaches so far – professionals like Patrick Vieira and Domenec Torrent passed through the North American club, which only won its first title in 2021.
Melbourne City, acquired in January 2014, has six technicians passing through. The first of them, the Dutchman John Schip, stayed for four years in the position, and won the Australian Cup in 2016. Yokohama Marinos, bought in the same year as Melbourne, had 4 coaches until the current season – the Japanese won the J- League in 2019.
Renato Paiva’s contract with Bahia ends in December 2024.
