Ex-Colón champion now manages 100 Miami properties: ‘World Cup boom’ | OneFootball

Matías Ibáñez returned to Bahía Blanca in 2025 to fulfill his promise of retiring at Olimpo, the club that gave him the chance to make his debut in Argentina’s top division. Many years had passed since his breakthrough in the highest category of Argentine football, when in 2011, against Quilmes, he came off the bench after Laureano Tombolini’s injury. In a critical situation, the goalkeeper pulled off a string of saves that rescued his team and hurt River, which would end up being relegated to the Nacional B after the memorable Promotion playoff against Belgrano.

The turning point in Ibáñez’s career came after winning the title with Lanús in 2016. From then on, he began to feel that retirement “was near”, that insurmountable barrier that puts an expiration date on a professional footballer’s career.

The key was keeping his mind busy, training himself, and anticipating what was coming. “You have to prepare yourself and know that football comes to an end. I spoke with psychologists and came to the conclusion that the adrenaline I felt before matches, I’m not going to find anywhere else. It’s a stage that ends,” the former goalkeeper told LA NACION. He now owns a travel agency in Bahía Blanca.

“I’ve been involved in tourism for ten years. While I was playing football, I rented out apartments in the United States. Based on the knowledge I gained, I opened my travel agency,” explained Ibáñez, who also wore the shirts of San Lorenzo, Racing, and Spain’s Eibar, among other teams. Over the course of a long professional career, he made sure to make the most of his time and completed courses to become a head coach, sports advisor, goalkeeper coach, in scouting, coaching, and sports commentary.

By building up this knowledge, Ibáñez understood that staying in the sports world made no sense and decided to definitively cut ties with football. “Today there are a lot of positions occupied by former players, but I feel you have to train yourself. Most want to be head coaches, but there isn’t room for everyone. Being a coach is worse than being a player. Nowadays you coach five matches, get fired, and then spend a year staring at the wall in your house until they call you again. I didn’t want to live with that uncertainty. These days I go grocery shopping in Bahía and when people see me they say: ‘How’s it going, retiree?’ And I laugh because what ended is the profession, not life. I’m young, I have two daughters — Victoria and Catalina — and I have to show them that this goes on, and that working is the best example I can give them,” he said.

His venture in the United States and the big question: how much does it cost to go to the World Cup?

Between training sessions, training camps, matches, and trips across the continent to play in the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana, Matías Ibáñez used his time to read and learn about different tourist destinations around the world. Passionate about training and about building connections between people to grow his client base, he invested a large part of his salary to acquire properties — together with partners — and set up a daily and weekly rental service in Miami.

“I’ve been a salesman all my life. I sell happiness. People who buy a vacation package are looking for that,” exclaimed Ibáñez, who studied business administration and English in order to broaden his sales reach.

Ibáñez started from scratch, allocated funds to buy the homes and also to strengthen the marketing strategy that led his two business Instagram accounts to gather 400,000 followers. His image as a businessman overshadowed that of the footballer, and celebrities such as Susana Giménez keep up with the offers posted on his social media.

“Over the years I built trust with the people who traveled and rented. Since I’m a public figure, people trust me. Some know me, others have no idea who I am, but they recommend me. Today I manage close to 100 apartments in Miami and work with other people who handle the check-in and other issues there that I can’t take care of from a distance,” he said about this well-known city, which will be one of the busiest during the next World Cup.

With the World Cup just around the corner, inquiries have multiplied fivefold. “People are going crazy. There are tons of inquiries. At the agency we’ve started putting together packages with domestic transfers,” he explained about stays in one of the countries that will host the most matches compared with Mexico and Canada, the other two host nations.

“Apartments rent for $150 a day. There are also other options where the stay costs $2,500. The range of options is very broad,” he said about the rates currently being offered. For those looking for a more comprehensive plan, he added: “Packages are close to $10,000 and include tickets for the first three group-stage matches.”

Among the different alternatives, Ibáñez said that many tourists will use Miami as a base to go watch the matches. However, he pointed out that the distances make the trip more expensive, which forces agencies to look for budget-friendly alternatives, such as offering a motor home to travel and sleep in the same vehicle, thus saving the return trip from the stadium.

Bahía Blanca’s critical situation after the floods

In early March 2025, an unprecedented storm flooded and destroyed much of Bahía Blanca. That same month, the former player had everything ready to open the agency, but the severe weather flooded the premises and delayed its opening.

“The city is the same as it was after the flood. The municipality has done practically nothing. The bridges are still closed. If anything has changed, it’s because of the solidarity of people from all over the country who made donations,” Ibáñez said, ten months after the event that left people dead and many families devastated.

According to his account, the only progress was paving some streets before the elections. “They said they were going to modify the Maldonado canal, but I pass through that area quite often and I don’t see anyone working,” he said about this place located 20 blocks from the city center.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.