Malaga complete return to La Liga after tumultuous decade-long recovery
Malaga returned to La Liga in June after securing promotion to Spain's top flight in a campaign that ended with a city celebration.
Their rise back to the top tier accompanies the returns of Deportivo La Coruna and Racing Santander, clubs that have featured prominently in La Liga over the past 30 years. Ten years after reaching the latter stages of the Champions League, Malaga had fallen into financial and sporting turmoil: on 9 April 2013 they led 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund before conceding two stoppage-time goals, and the club’s high point under owner Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, who bought the club in 2010 and installed Manuel Pellegrini as manager, soon unraveled after key departures such as Pellegrini and Isco in 2013.
Malaga were banned from the Europa League the following season for breaching Uefa's financial fair play rules over overdue payments, mounting debts forced player sales and the club were relegated from La Liga in 2018. In 2020 a regional court ordered Al-Thani's removal amid allegations of misappropriation of funds; European and international arrest warrants have been issued against the Sheikh and his three sons and prosecutors are seeking prison sentences totalling 14 and a half years. Court-appointed administrator Jose Maria Munoz has overseen operations since 2020.
Austerity and fire sales left Malaga reliant on free agents and loan signings, and in 2023 the club slipped into the regionalised third division. "I was at the last game in the second division against Ibiza. Both teams were already relegated and it was like a funeral," said podcaster and Malaga season-ticket holder Matt Harrison. Spain's third tier is known as 'el pozo' - the well - because it is notoriously difficult to climb out of; a threadbare squad of youth-team players and local lads nonetheless secured immediate promotion after finishing third in the south division and then defeating Gimnastic Tarragona in a two-legged play-off final when Antonio Cordero bundled home in the dying moments of extra time.
The season in the lower tier revived support across the city. "Disgracefully, in Malaga there have always been lots of Real Madrid and Barcelona fans," said Malaga supporter and journalist Jose Luis Sabatel. "But when Malaga flew lower, an enormous quantity of 'Malaguenos' [residents] became 'Malaguistas' [supporters]." Sergio Pellicer then kept Malaga in the second division with a 16th-place finish but began the following campaign with only four wins in 14 games and was replaced by reserve-team coach Juan Francisco Funes, who had never played or coached in professional football and had recently considered returning to the classroom when his side were bottom of their fourth division group.
Funes initially recorded one win and two draws before Malaga won their next six matches and climbed to third in the table, with the team adopting a more attacking style. "That style of football combined with local players made a perfect cocktail that energised the fans," said Harrison. Key contributors included academy graduate Chupe, who scored 25 goals in 2025-26, winger David Larrubia and defender Diego Murillo; Radio Marca journalist Juanje Fernandez said: "He already knew their strengths, weaknesses and personalities from the outset. There was virtually no adaptation period, so they hit the ground running." Fernandez added: "The players bought into Funes' ideas from day one." "Footballers tend to perform at their best when they genuinely believe in what they're being asked to do, rather than simply following instructions," he said.
With almost all permanent signings free since 2020, Malaga finished fourth and faced Almeria in the 2025-26 play-off final despite a modest transfer spend of £325,000 on permanent deals since 2020 compared with Almeria's expenditure of more than £10m that season. After a goalless home draw in the first leg, hundreds of fans lined motorway bridges heading out of the city to wave the team on their way to Almeria and supporters regularly greeted the team bus with flags and pyrotechnics; the club's Fondo Sur ultras adopted the song 'Es la Vida Loca' borrowed from the ultras scene in Morocco. With only a few hundred tickets available in Almeria, Chupe steered Malaga in front and Larrubia curled in a second to secure a 2-1 win; kit supplier Hummel incorporated the names of all 26,550 season-ticket holders into a special one-off strip to mark the moment.
The 2-1 victory sparked mass celebrations in Malaga and, after a weekend of partying, an estimated 185,000 fans lined the streets to welcome the team. "It was a once-in-a-generation moment. Many young fans had never seen Malaga play in La Liga," Fernandez said. "An entire generation had grown up after the club's Champions League years knowing little more than financial turmoil, sporting disappointment and uncertainty surrounding the club they loved."
Several players later challenged fans on social media to meet them at 07:00 on Monday at a roundabout in a western suburb and hundreds answered the call, a demonstration of what Fernandez called the squad-supporter bond: "That connection between the squad and the fans was one of the defining features of the campaign," he said. Preparations for the top flight have been low-key, with important players renewing contracts and sporting director Loren Juarros arranging loan deals including the return of promotion winner Carlos Dotor from Celta Vigo and the loan of winger Juan Cruz from Leganes for £256,000; Malaga fans know their club are favourites for relegation, and they open the season with trips to Atletico Madrid (Wednesday, 20:00 BST kick-off) and Real Madrid.
