The usurpers from Girona are shaking up Spanish football
But the underdog story is not as romantic as it looks
THE RACE to win La Liga is usually a two-horse affair. In the 21st century Real Madrid and Barcelona have won a combined 19 out of 23 titles in Spanish football’s top division. Yet this season an outsider is challenging the duopoly. Girona FC, from a city around 100km north of Barcelona, sit second in the table, nestled above their Catalan neighbours and below Real. A heavy defeat in Madrid on February 10th has lowered Girona’s chances of winning a first league title. But the upstarts at least look likely to qualify for the Champions League, Europe’s premier club competition. That is a remarkable achievement for a club enjoying only its fourth season in Spain’s top flight.
Fans of European football have cheered on several underdog stories in recent years. Last season Napoli, from southern Italy, beat a host of richer rivals in Serie A to win their first scudetto since 1990. In Germany Union Berlin, a side with working-class roots from the east of the capital, qualified for the Champions League for the first time. And who could forget Leicester City winning England’s Premier League in 2016—a 5,000-to-1 shot before that season’s opening day?
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