Matias Ibanez He returned to Bahía Blanca in 2025 to fulfill his promise to retire in Olympusthe club that gave him the opportunity to debut in the First Division. Many years had passed since his emergence into the top category of Argentine football, when in 2011, against Quilmes, he came on from the substitute bench due to Laureano Tombolini’s injury. In an extreme situation, the goalkeeper made a series of saves that saved his team and harmed River, that would end up descending to the National “B” after the remembered Promotion against Belgrano.
The turning point in Ibáñez’s career came after becoming champion with Lanús in 2016. From there, He began to feel that retirement “was near.”that insurmountable barrier that sets an expiration date for the professional soccer player.
The key was to keep your head busy, to train yourself, to foresee what was coming. “You have to prepare and know that football is over. I spoke with psychologists and I came to the conclusion that I will not find the adrenaline I felt before games anywhere. It is a stage that ends,” the former goalkeeper told THE NATIONtoday owner of a tourism agency in Bahía Blanca.
“I have been involved in tourism for ten years. While he played soccer he rented apartments in the United States. Based on the knowledge I acquired, I opened the travel agency,” explained Ibáñez, who also wore the T-shirts of San Lorenzo, Racing and Eibar of Spainamong other teams. In a broad path through professional football, he made the most of his time and completed the courses of technical director, sports advisor, goalkeeper coach, scoutingcoaching and sports reporter.
By nourishing himself with this knowledge, Ibáñez understood that continuing in the sports circuit it didn’t make sense and decided to definitively cut his ties with football. “Today there are a lot of positions that are occupied by former players, but I feel that you have to train. The vast majority want to be a technical director, but there is not room for everyone. Being a coach is worse than being a player. Today you direct five dates, they kick you out and you spend a year looking at the wall of your house until they call you back. I didn’t want to experience that uncertainty. Today I go shopping in Bahia and when they see me they say: ‘How are you doing, retired?’ And I laugh because what ended is the profession, not life. I am young, I have two daughters –Victoria and Catalina- and I have to show them that this continues and working is the best example I can give them,” he highlighted.
Between training, concentrations, matches and trips to different parts of the continent to compete in the Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana, Matías Ibáñez used his time to read and explore the different tourist spots in the world. Passionate about training and how to establish connections between people to increase his clientele, He invested a large part of his salary to acquire properties – together with partners – and thus set up a daily and weekly rental service in Miami.
“I have been a lifelong salesman. I sell happiness. People who buy a vacation package look for that,” exclaimed Ibáñez, who studied business administration and English to be able to expand the sales spectrum.
Ibáñez started from scratch, allocating funds to acquire the homes and also to enrich the marketing that led to his two trading accounts on Instagram to gather 400 thousand followers. His image as a merchant displaced that of the soccer player and celebrities such as Susana Gimenez They are aware of the offers that are published on their networks.
“Over the years I built trust in the people who traveled and rented. Being a public person people trust me. Some know me, others don’t even know who I am, but they recommend me. Today I manage nearly 100 apartments in Miami and I work with other people who are in charge of doing the check-in and other questions that I cannot do from a distance“, he said about this renowned city that will be very busy during the next World Cup.
With the World Cup just around the corner, inquiries increased fivefold. “People are crazy. The queries are many. At the agency we began to put together packages with internal transfers,” he clarified about the stay in one of the countries that will have the most matches compared to Mexico and Canada, the other two organizing countries.
“The apartments rent for $150 per day. There are also other options where the stay costs 2500. The offer is very varied,” he said about the rates that are being handled at the moment. For those looking for a more comprehensive plan, he said: “The packages are close to 10 thousand dollars and includes admission to the first three matches of the group stage.”
Among the different alternatives, Ibáñez said that many tourists will base themselves in Miami to go see the games. However, he objected that distances make the trip more expensive and that forces agencies to look for “gasoline” alternatives, such as offering a motor home to travel and sleep in the same vehicle, thus saving the return trip from the stadium.
In early March 2025, an unprecedented storm flooded and destroyed much of Bahía Blanca. That same month, the former player had everything ready to open the agency, but severe inclement weather flooded the premises and its opening was postponed.
“The city is the same as it was after the flood. The municipality did practically nothing. The bridges are still cut. If something changed it was because of the solidarity of people from all over the country who made donations“, said Ibáñez, ten months after this event that left many families dead and homeless.
According to his testimony, the only progress was paving some streets before the elections. “They were talking about the Maldonado canal being modified, but I pass by the area quite often and I don’t see anyone working,” he said about this place that is located 20 blocks from the city center.
