This season, La Liga's Girona have dazzled everyone. They beat Barcelona with a pass-and-possession style of play and became the first team in the top five leagues to surpass 40 points, ahead of Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona. Founded in 1930, Girona has gone through several relegations, reaching La Liga for the first time in 2017, but being relegated again in 2019 and back to La Liga in 2022. Last season, they finished 10th in La Liga with 49 points.
The victory over Barcelona brought their points to 41 points, and coach Michel said they had already completed their relegation from the season ahead of schedule. In fact, they are no longer just fighting for relegation, the European zone is close at hand, and Girona's performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Girona's rise has been linked to the likes of City Group, Clauer and Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City's parent company, City Group, acquired Club 44 in the summer of 20173% of the shares, while Pep Guardiola, the owner of Girona Football Group, also holds the same shares. Crowle, then CEO of SoftBank Group, joined the club's shareholders in 2020. These three shareholders bring a steady stream of financial backing and strong contacts to Girona. Head coach Michel is a La Liga specialist, and his teams have all been promoted in La Liga.
The success of the Girona team has also drawn attention to the city with a population of only 99,013. It is worth mentioning that the population of the city of Girona is almost equal to the number of seats at the Camp Nou in Barcelona.