Girona FC rise - Feeder club to Leader club

Girona has been heralded as one of the biggest underdog achievers of not only La Liga but among all the top leagues that are widely followed this season earning themselves a spot in the UEFA Champions League. While the feat is certainly impressive this is not a team that has come out of the blue and achieved what they have against all odds. Though they certainly have earned it fair and square and by no means it is a small feat whatsoever. A fantastic season, absolutely a once in a lifetime  fairytale, absolutely not, at least not to the degree many have made it out to be.

A feat like Leicester City winning the premier league or Montpellier winning Ligue 1 in France or as the EUROS are going right now. Greece winning the whole thing way back in 04 or outside the traditional top leagues one can look no further to that Mourinho Porto super team which captured the UCL about two decades earlier. While these clubs emerged out of the blue and had to face insurmountable challenges and impossible odds being stacked against them, the recent rise of Girona has been a slow churn. A steady climb instead of them creating something out of nothing like the ones mentioned in the list had conjured up during their run in for glory.

Girona had been finishing within touching distance of the top half for the past two seasons. With it being evident it was not a short term trial and error project where it would seem like those behind the scenes would scale back their involvement or pull out entirely. It was sooner rather than later that better players, managers and the rest of the coaching staff and other areas of club would end up clicking as the process was 5 years into the cycle. And with talents like Savio and Yan Couto who are for all sense and purposes brought in by their biggest well connected club in UK, the dots start to connect and it seems more like a methodical, well thought out process working out. It just remains to be seen whether this is their peak or they can still push their limits.

Leicester winning the premier league about a decade ago when they had a squad mainly consisting of players a step below the English top flight with all due respect. A manager who although was very good in his own right pinches himself right to this day as to how he had pulled this off. Montpellier and Lille winning against the financial muscle of a group which is practically funded by an entire country is a fairytale. Whereas Girona is funded and is intended to serve as a feeder club to one although they have and will be looking to stave off this notion to carve out their own identity despite whatever happens in the boardrooms.

Girona FC success is one of the few success stories of the multi club model and to attribute as a fairytale would not do justice to the 7 year itch that they have managed to scratch off. They have had to get rid off which did include relegations and frustrating promotions misses behind the glitz and glamour of the foregone season.

Cover Credits - The Away End