DFrom its headquarters in the Chinese city of Beijing, Ben harburg and MARCA have talked about the news of the Cadiz CF, the club in which he has acquired 6.5% of shares and which he intends to grow until he becomes one of the great teams in LaLiga.
With European dreams, endless ideas for the globalization of the club, and also of the Spanish competition, and an unusual emotion, the successful American businessman intends to achieve in the La Tacita club, what he has achieved in other investments from other major brands multinationals during its trajectory. Whether he succeeds or not will depend on many factors that are very different in the world of football, something of which he is aware because he assumes that “it is the first time that I have invested in something that I love but that I have done emotionally. and not looking at the financial thing. “
Question: For those who do not know Ben Harburg and wonder who he is, what can we tell them?
Answer: I am American, I have lived in many places in the world, Switzerland, the United States, Singapore … and when I was little, from eleven to thirteen years old, I lived in Cádiz because my father worked there. Since then, I love Cádiz, at that time I went to see several Cádiz games in Segunda B because the son of a friend of my mother was a Cádiz player. At that time I learned Spanish and for six years I have been at the headquarters in China and in all these years I have made more than 150 investments in companies that everyone knows such as Uber, Airbnb, in large companies in China such as NIO, the brand of China’s most important electric cars and now I have taken this important step with this investment in Cádiz.
Q: A private investment of yours in a soccer club that has nothing to do with a normal company. Why Cádiz CF and when did the contacts begin?
R. It is a personal investment that I make, I acquire 6.5% of the shares and I have to say that the process of choosing an investment of this type began a year and a half ago. I spoke with many Spanish teams, both First and Second and also First RFEF and Second RFEF. I wanted to know how they functioned economically and I contacted several LaLiga clubs proposing my ideas of globalization, trying to find out what things can be done in a team, more or less small, to improve it, obtaining more investments from abroad. And finally, Cádiz was the best of all, because I spoke with other teams that have a certain chaos within their group …
Q: Cádiz is not very clear about its shareholding either, with two great sides facing each other. You will be aware of the problem that there is in the club with the subject of actions. Who have you bought the shares from?
A: I don’t know if I can say it, but of the available share package, I have acquired that 6.5%. And I think other clubs have much more chaos than Cádiz (laughs) and I think Cádiz is quite good. Because in Manolo Vizcaíno and Manolo Contreras I found two people who have the same vision as me to globalize the club and wanted to support economically to make Cádiz grow as much as possible.
Q: Cádiz has a salary limit of 45 million euros and you are betting on raising that limit to the next level, which would be 75 million euros. How can it be done?
A: Only in Spain, we have the maximum number of fans and sponsors that we can have in Cádiz. So the only thing we have, the only option to collect money and win more fans is from other places. Therefore, in this way we will be able to consolidate our position in the League. What I’m doing is getting sponsorship contracts with technology firms that would never, in any case, work with Cádiz because they don’t even know it. They work, for example, with clubs of the highest level of the Premier. But these brands, or because I invest in them or because they know me, they trust me and the idea that I propose and in one or two three days we will announce a new contract with a new technology firm that will bet on this globalization of Cádiz CF.
Q: Your intention is to make Cádiz CF known throughout the world
A: Of course yes. For example, in the Arab countries, we are managing to grow the growth in social networks related to Cádiz by 50% with a team that I have found there that is generating content. We want to create agreements with various academies and work with sponsors there. The same as we are doing in China, we are making content in Chinese, we are working with Chinese sponsors, exploring other avenues such as working with Chinese teams, academies or even players to grow our brand in our image with Chinese fans.
Q: Would you bet, if it fits into the sporting plan, the incorporation of a Chinese player into Cádiz CF, following the strategy you comment?
A: Yeah right. If we have a Chinese player in Cádiz, it would change everything in the eyes of the Chinese. For example, here in China, Espanyol, with Wu Lei, has more people who watch their games than Barcelona and Real Madrid. Thus, a team that is not known here in China can change a lot. But we have to find a player who can fit into our team. We not only need star marketing, but someone who really helps the team and from there it is more difficult because there is only one Wu Lei.
Q: You disembark in Cádiz but what do you think of the Spanish LaLiga, if we compare it with others such as the Premier.
A: I think that the Spanish League is the most interesting in the world. A few years ago, we were the first but now you know that La Liga is more competitive and it is more interesting to see our league than to see others in Europe. But we need La Liga teams, and La Liga, to improve their globalization. They have to do many things, I have many ideas, I have spoken with people from La Liga here at their headquarters in China and we have to improve and increase the knowledge of La Liga around the world. For example, we have to work with ESPN, CBS, so that, for example, they get to know us in the United States, something that the Premier is doing, something that their clubs are also doing. This is not done in Spain. For example, the headquarters of FC Barcelona is in Hong Kong and where you should be is in Beijing, here in China, in Shanghai, to do local things. Real Madrid and Barcelona are not very aggressive doing things in China like Manchester City, Liverpool or the German clubs that are growing a lot here. Therefore, I think we have a very good product with La Liga but we are not doing much in that regard.
Q: Cádiz is a recently promoted team. You talk about globalization and growth but the club is a recently promoted one. Is all this that you intend to do with a hypothetical decrease of the club viable?
A: We have to survive this year and achieve permanence. I believe that we can do things to change in a very short time. It is not necessary to change everything within the team, I think we are going to announce things that teams of our level, no one is doing, no team.
Q. You lived in Puerto de Santa María, the family supports your decision, but you know that a football club is not like a company. Or do you think so?
A: It’s very different. It is my first time of an investment that has so much emotion, so much passion and has nothing to do with it.
P. Do you think the fans understand this strategy?
A: The fans may not understand or want Cádiz to be a global team. But it is possible for this to happen. I think it is necessary to survive in this League because we have to collect money from other places. We cannot continue doing the same as in recent years. It does not cost the fans anything that I am here, I am only to improve things and I do not enter into player decisions or anything like that because I am new to this topic. But I love the passion of the fans, and another reason why I bought the team is because the Cádiz fans are some of the best in Spain and I want to sit with them in the stands, not in the box and I want to be with them because this is not something financial, but I want to achieve success for the fans of Cádiz.
Q: President Manuel Vizcaíno has been talking for weeks about the construction of his own stadium. How do you see it?
A: We need a stadium of our own. I love the current stadium because it is close to the beach, I like the proximity and I do not like stadiums that are outside the city and so on. I love the place, but I think we need a bigger, more modern stadium and we have a not too distant plan but it is all part of the plan to modernize and grow the club to another level. We need the part of globalization and also the part that both Rafael Contreras and Manuel Vizcaíno are doing in Spain.
Q: Let’s suppose that Cádiz achieves permanence. Where do you think Cádiz would be or could be next season?
A: I believe that as a minimum, we can set the objective in the top ten in La Liga. I think that at least we can qualify for the Europa League because it is difficult to be among the top four for Spain but I think that in a few years, two or three years, we can be at this level of the Europa League, but we have to survive in the First Division this year .
Q: Take Cádiz CF to Europe. Are you ambitious
A: Why not. If we had won against Osasuna or Villarreal, everything would be different. This year we have to survive, but I think that in the next two or three years, we can go up that notch.
Q: You have little time, but have you set a schedule or a match to come?
A: It is almost impossible right now because right now I would have to stay in quarantine for three weeks but I want to go in January, I want to be with the team, because I love it.
Q: You look very excited.
A: It is the first time in my life that I have invested in something that I love everything but that I have done emotionally and not looking at the financial.
Q: What have your teammates, your family and your friends told you by investing in a soccer team in this way?
A: My colleagues and friends are delighted. Luckily, the game against Getafe is at nine at night here in China and I am going to throw a great party, with ambassadors, I am introducing Cádiz to the world and heads of technology companies will come and I know that Cádiz needs it, and I also want to do things with the city, not only with the club, help as much as possible also tourism in Cádiz with China. And it starts with the team, which is the city’s ambassador.
Q: In other words, LaLiga schedules, you think it is vital that they adapt to other countries.
A: Yeah right if. For example, there are Espanyol games that here are three or four at night and nobody can watch the game at that time. I do not understand why this is so.
Q: Thank you for attending us. Good luck and the ball in
A: Thank you very much and I promise that I will improve my Spanish for the next interview (laughs)
