“I took in Sevilla with my mother’s milk,” says Sevilla’s new club president Jose Maria del Nido Carrasco.
Del Nido Carrasco has welcomed The Athletic to his office at Sevilla’s Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, and the 45-year-old is explaining his lifelong connection to the La Liga club.
“I’ve been a partner (club member) since the day I was born, grandson of a Sevilla vice-president, son of a Sevilla president, and have been at the club in different roles for 17 years. So I know what it means to manage a club like this.”
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Del Nido Carrasco has attended games at the Sanchez Pizjuan for as long as he can remember. As a small boy, with his four brothers and sisters, he spent huge amounts of time around the club’s offices and training ground.
“I’ve lots of great memories — enjoying watching players like Davor Suker, Diego Armando Maradona, (Toni) Polster, (Diego) Simeone,” he says “My father joined the board when I was eight years old. I would go to the training ground, with my brother, and remember meeting Maradona. We got to know the players, I was so fortunate. I admired them a lot.”
After attaining a law degree from the Andalusian capital’s Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, Del Nido Carrasco joined Sevilla himself as a board vice-secretary in 2006, aged 28. That was the same year the team won the UEFA Cup — aside from the 2000-01 Segunda Division title, their first senior trophy in almost 50 years.
“When I was younger, I could never have imagined that we would play any final,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “Now we have played 22, and won 11 trophies. I had the fortune to be at most of those as a board member. I always had the feeling I was learning and gaining experience for this moment.”
Sevilla are unusual in La Liga, and most top leagues, as the club’s shares are largely controlled by a group of powerful local families. The Del Nidos have the largest holding, and the Ales, Castro, Guijarro and Carrion families also have significant shares.
Del Nido Carrasco formally assumed the Sevilla presidency on December 31 last year, under an agreement with the previous club chief Jose Castro, who is now vice-president.
“It was one of the nicest days of my life,” says Del Nido Carrasco. “For any Sevillista, to achieve the presidency of your club is a dream. The start has been difficult, it is very frenetic, these first just under two months.
“But I’m very happy, we’re taking on a beautiful regeneration of Sevilla FC, the team and the club.”
His father, Jose Maria del Nido Benavente, was Sevilla president from 2002 until 2013, when he had to stand down after being jailed for the misappropriation of public funds.
Castro took over, and then refused to step aside when Del Nido Benavente was released from jail in 2017. The stand-off between the different blocks further escalated the following year, with the arrival on the scene of American investors 777 Partners.
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777 was first invited in by Castro, who saw it as an ally against Del Nido Benavente’s attempts to regain control of the club. It invested more than €25million (£21m, $27m) to acquire over 13 per cent of Sevilla’s shares, with no operational control of the club or its operations. However, most of the local shareholders quickly grew to distrust the American investors, and instead decided on a November 2019 ‘pact’ to bring peace between the families.
“This war situation between the Del Nido family and the Castro group ended with the pact, so was celebrated joyfully by most Sevillistas,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “But 30 minutes after signing the pact, my father asked me to break it (like he had). I had to choose between keeping my word, and keeping my dignity, or having a father.“
He chose the former.
“I chose what I felt was best for Sevilla and the Sevillistas, and what felt right for my own conscience.”
Del Nido Carrasco was now very publicly allied with Castro, and against his own father, who was kept out of the club, even though he remains the biggest individual shareholder (24 per cent of shares). 777 has since switched to back Del Nido Benavente’s attempt to return as president, after the current board refused to hear its ideas for modernising the club’s off-pitch activities. They have said they tried to keep out of the family dispute.
“We believed 777’s plan was to issue new club shares to prepare the sale of the club to another foreign fund,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “But we Sevillistas want the club to be managed by people with 100 per cent Sevilla DNA, who want the best for the club, not for their own interests.”
There have been no indications from 777 that its executives want to sell the club, and they have a long-term view over their involvement with it.
There were angry scenes at Sevilla’s 2020 AGM, when 777 Partners representative Andres Blazquez (now CEO of Serie A side Genoa) was voted off the club’s board. Del Nido Benavente was also excluded via a legal manoeuvre, and has since persistently taken cases to the local courts to try and regain the presidency. 777 managing director Juan Arciniegas told The Athletic in May 2021 that it tried to stay out of the “family tensions”, but still saw Sevilla as “the jewel in the crown” of its multi-club strategy. Arciniegas left 777 in May 2023.
Some Sevilla board members, including Enrique de la Cerda, have also publicly backed the former president against the current hierarchy. Recent club AGMs have featured awkward and unpleasant scenes. In December 2022, private security guards intervened to calm a situation involving Del Nido Carrasco’s brother Miguel Angel, who also previously worked at the club. Last December, Del Nido Benavente shouted from the floor, “You’re a piece of s***” when his son was speaking from the top table. “I don’t remember what I called him,” he would say later.
Del Nido Benavente has called his son “the most illegitimate president in the history of the club”, and called him a “squatter” in the role. He has also taken legal action to force the club to pay him the salary due to the club president (€750,000 a year), claiming that it is rightfully his as the holder of the family shareholding. On Thursday, a local judge ruled that Del Nido Carrasco should keep receiving this money, under the terms of the November 2019 ‘pact’.
“For my father to be continuously attacking Sevilla, and attacking me, is a very violent situation for me,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “It hurts me as a son, and as president of Sevilla. All these situations damage Sevilla, the bad atmosphere does not help the players to win games.”
The Sevilla fanbase has also been divided over the power struggles. Most supporters just want a winning team, and blame whoever is in charge when results are not good. After Sevilla were eliminated from the Champions League last December, graffiti appeared near the stadium with threatening messages against Del Nido Carrasco, Castro and club director Carolina Ales. Ales was also insulted as she left the stadium that night. In January 2013, Castro’s house was painted with slogans calling on him to resign.
Del Nido Carrasco has regularly called for unity among Sevilla’s shareholders and fans. He says he would welcome his father back on the board, once he accepts the terms of the agreement, which includes him continuing as president.
“I want to construct my presidency using the unity of all Sevillismo, and all the shareholders,” he says. “I would love for my father to return to the pact, in a trustworthy and honest way, to bring unity to Sevillismo.”
777’s ongoing attempts to add the Premier League side Everton to its portfolio — they control Genoa, Vasco da Gama in Brazil, Red Star in France and the Belgian club Standard Liege — have also been followed very closely in Seville. 777 also has a large stake in the German side Hertha Berlin, but no operational control.
“What we have read about the possible purchase of Everton, in the media, is startling,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “The purchase has been stalled for a long time. I have read that there are problems with the origins of their money. Then the clubs they have bought are not getting positive results. Everywhere they have gone, the press reports are negative.”
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A spokesperson for 777 told The Athletic that the deal for Everton has not stalled, and it is waiting on a decision from the Premier League. They say the company is 100 per cent owned by Steve Pasko and Josh Wander and that there is no mystery over the origins of their funds. They also defended the performances of the four clubs it controls, pointing to financial mismanagement by previous owners and positive signs since it took over.
Some in Seville believe that the only solution to all the feuding at the Sanchez Pizjuan is for everyone involved to sell out to a completely new investor, whether local or international.
“As of today, the shareholders want the club to remain in the hands of Sevillistas,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “We’re not thinking about a sale, don’t see it as a solution, or a strategy. We want to protect the club from foreign investors.”
During Castro’s decade of presidency, Sevilla qualified for Europe each season, and won the Europa League five times. Beating Manchester United, Juventus and Roma on the way to the last of those trophies helped the club’s revenues for 2022-23 reach a record €214.3million.
However, costs at the Sanchez Pizjuan have also steadily climbed in recent years. Last November’s most recent club accounts show a loss of €19.3million, following from €24.8m in 2021-22 and €41m in 2020-21.
Del Nido Carrasco says the Covid-19 pandemic hurt the club’s finances, but also admits: “We moved away from our traditional model by signing more experienced and older players, looking for more immediate performance. Mistakes were made in signing players who did not perform at the expected level.
“I want a project that is younger, with lesser-known players who can perform well, and then generate profits in the market.”
Former sporting director Monchi was closely identified with Sevilla’s successful player trading model during two terms at the club over two decades. He left last summer to join Aston Villa, after being criticised for transfers which meant the wage bill grew to €203m in 2022-23.
A strained relationship with the hierarchy was shown when Monchi complained publicly about being excluded from the goodbyes as Ivan Rakitic left Sevilla in January.
@Ivanrakitic, me hubiera gustado estar ahí contigo o al menos mandarte un mensaje por video como el resto de compañeros y amigos, pero no he tenido la opción.
— Monchi (@leonsfdo) January 30, 2024
Te doy las gracias como sevillista por todo lo que has hecho por este club.
Ojalá la vida te siga dando lo que te… pic.twitter.com/eZVnrqOKC2
“As Monchi is no longer here now, I only want to remember the positive, all the good he did for the club,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “Monchi has been one of the pillars of this champion Sevilla, with his staff, signing very good players. The video was of all Ivan’s coaches here, and Monchi was never Sevilla coach.”
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Monchi’s replacement was former Leeds sporting director Victor Orta, who worked at Sevilla previously from 2006 to 2013.
“Victor Orta came here in a difficult moment,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “We started this season with 33 players, some of them of advanced age, some with high salaries. We’ve been working together, elbow to elbow, to regenerate the squad, on a sporting and financial level. I’m fully convinced he is up to the task.”
That task continued in the most recent January transfer window, when veterans Rakitic and Fernando left Sevilla. The players signed were all youngsters on loan — Hannibal Mejbri (20), from Manchester United, Alejo Veliz (20) from Tottenham Hotspur and Lucien Agoume (21) from Inter Milan.
“We made bets on young players, physically powerful, motivated, ambitious, excited to have successful careers,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “We also brought up Isaac Romero from Sevilla Atletico, reinforcing our trust in our youth system. We’ve options to buy Hannibal and Agoume. We’ll think about that at the end of the season, but they’re two players we really like.”
Since Emery left in the summer of 2016, Sevilla has had 11 first-team coaches in seven and a half seasons. Jose Luis Mendilibar was sacked in early October, and his replacement Diego Alonso lasted just 14 games with the team 17th in La Liga and already eliminated from the Champions League.
Former Atletico Madrid, Valencia and Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores was hired in December, and has overseen an improvement in results, with two wins and two draws in the last four games, including a 1-0 victory at home to Atletico Madrid, and a point taken at Valencia last weekend.
“We’re convinced that Quique is the ideal coach for Sevilla today,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “He is Spanish, he knows La Liga, he speaks our language. He arrived at a difficult moment, following many coaches (in a short time), and is getting results for the team.”
Next summer, Sevilla’s wage bill will likely fall by around €60m. Higher earners Erik Lamela and Oliver Torres are out of contract in June, as are veterans Jesus Navas and Sergio Ramos.
Youssef En-Nesyri, Suso, Marcos Acuna and Lucas Ocampos, all with contracts until June 2025, could be sold.
“We’re working on regenerating the squad,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “We’re a selling club — when offers come in, we consider them. Jesus (Navas) will be in Seville as long as he decides. We’re also very happy with Sergio (Ramos).
“We need a more sustainable and more efficient model, while still a very ambitious model, with younger players accompanied by more experienced teammates.”
Sevilla’s upturn in form will be tested on Sunday evening when they visit La Liga leaders Real Madrid, where the Andalusians have not won since 2008-09.
Del Nido Carrasco says he has an “excellent personal relationship” with Madrid president Florentino Perez, although they are “diametrically opposed professionally”.
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Sevilla have closely allied with La Liga president Javier Tebas in recent years, ruling out any possibility of joining the European Super League project promoted by Perez and Barcelona’s Joan Laporta, and supporting the league’s deal with US investors CVC Partners.
“It’s not a war of Javier Tebas against Real Madrid, it’s all La Liga clubs except two against Madrid and Barcelona,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “I’m totally against the Super League, and in favour of a fairer share of TV revenues, like in the Premier League. I’m against the boycott of La Liga’s growth, I’m in favour of the CVC agreement.
“We would like Real Madrid and Barcelona to lead a strong La Liga, not to be trying to destroy it.”
Sevilla are receiving €127m from the CVC deal, with much of that money to be spent on improving the club’s facilities. A predicted €300m-350m will be spent in completely remodelling the Sanchez Pizjuan, increasing the capacity to 55,000, and adding more VIP and corporate facilities to improve income from match days and all year round. Off the pitch, plans also include improving the club’s global marketing and sponsorship reach.
“Our strategic plan has three basic pillars,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “On the infrastructure level, to complete the training ground and new stadium. On a sporting level, to improve the youth system to feed the first team and provide revenue in the market. On a business level, we want the club to grow and be better known in countries like India, China, Brazil, the United States, Mexico.
“Sevilla belongs to the Sevillistas, but making the club more global is key for our growth.”
Del Nido Carrasco says he has not seen the HBO show Succession, so he is unaware of any similarities between that show and his own family’s internal issues. He did, however, watch The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a Spanish TV documentary series featuring the controversial exploits of former La Liga presidents including his own father, ex-Real Betis chief Manuel Luiz de Lopera and former Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil.
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The 45-year-old also believes that his arrival as Sevilla president is part of a wider generational change in La Liga. Elsewhere, long-serving presidents at Villarreal (Fernando Roig and Carlos Mourino) have ceded power to their son and daughter (Fernando Roig Negueroles and Marian Mourino).
“Things are modernising, there is a lot of young talent,” Del Nido Carrasco says. “The era of the 2000s was peculiar and interesting, with presidents like Lopera and Jesus Gil.
“Football is different now, and fortunately, from my point of view.”
(Top photo: Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images)