When José Mourinho left Real Madrid in 2013, Manuel Pellegrini’s Málaga was a team competing in the Champions League quarter-finals. The 2012-13 Málaga side had some familiar names. Current RB Leipzig manager Martin Demichelis and Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca were in Pellegrini’s squad along with a certain Isco Alarcón.
After four mid-table finishes between 2013-14 and 2016-17, the Andalusian club went down in 2017-18. Málaga’s financial decline after relegation from La Liga in 2018 was severe.
Their permitted squad-cost limit fell from around €53.5 million in their final top-flight season to €25.2 million in 2018-19. The club was initially protected by approximately €20.1 million in relegation compensation, but that cushion was temporary. By 2019-20, Málaga’s squad-cost limit had dropped to around €9.9 million, while the club still carried contractual commitments that were difficult to sustain on Segunda revenues.
The situation became particularly serious in 2020. Under judicial administrator José María Muñoz, Málaga underwent major restructuring, including redundancies and substantial reductions in operating and playing costs. The club had experienced liquidity problems and relied partly on player sales to meet its obligations. For 2020-21, Málaga’s permitted squad-cost limit fell to just €3.67 million, the lowest in Segunda, representing a decline of roughly 93% from their final La Liga season. Muñoz later said that relegation to Segunda B in 2020 would have left the club with very limited prospects of remaining viable.
Málaga eventually stabilised financially, but relegation from Segunda in 2023 brought another dramatic loss of income. The club had received approximately €7.4 million in television revenue during its final Segunda season, compared with only €120,000 budgeted from broadcasting in Primera Federación, a reduction of roughly 98%. Málaga consequently reduced its 2023-24 operating budget to around €7.5 million, almost €10 million below the previous season. Unlike in 2020, however, the club entered the third tier without outstanding debts and was considered financially viable, while its large supporter base continued to provide significant ticketing, sponsorship and commercial revenue.
Málaga spent only one season in Primera Federación, earning promotion back to Segunda in 2023-24 after beating Celta Fortuna 4-3 on aggregate in the playoff semi-final and Gimnàstic de Tarragona in the final, with Antoñito Cordero scoring a dramatic 122nd-minute goal in the second leg. Málaga then finished 16th with 53 points in their first season back in Segunda in 2024-25. The following season, they finished fourth with 73 points to qualify for the promotion playoffs, where they defeated Las Palmas in the semi-final and Almería in the final to secure promotion to La Liga in June 2026, ending an eight-year absence from the Spanish top flight.
Real Madrid center-back Dean Huijsen comes from the Málaga youth system. He will have a chance to face his old club this weekend.
