The importance of members in Osasuna’s model: interview with CEO Francisco Canal | OneFootball

World-famous for the San Fermín festival — a central theme in Ernest Hemingway’s masterpiece “The Sun Also Rises” — and for cycling legend Miguel Indurain, the Navarrese city of Pamplona has another key symbol of its identity: Osasuna. This La Liga club has a unique story, as it is one of only four teams, alongside giants like Athletic Bilbao, FC Barcelona, and Real Madrid, to retain its status as a sports association. This exception stems from Spain’s 1990 “Ley del Deporte,” which overhauled the country’s entire football system.

Specifically, after most Spanish clubs endured years of serious financial troubles, the new law required nearly all of them to convert into privately owned corporations under a new legal structure called SAD (Sociedad Anónima Deportiva) in order to clear their debts. The reform began in 1992, with exceptions allowed only for clubs that had posted a positive balance sheet in the five years leading up to the 1992/93 season — Osasuna was among them.

For this reason, Calcio e Finanza interviewed Francisco Canal, the club’s general director since 2019, who had already been collaborating with Osasuna as an external advisor since 2016. In this conversation, he discusses the club’s economic model, transfer market, the role of regional identity, and even the “Italian soul” within the club this coming season. He also clarifies that, although the name “Osasuna” is Basque (meaning “health” or “vigor” in Euskera), the club is a symbol of Navarre — a historic Spanish region directly south of the Basque Country where only a small portion of the population actually speaks Basque.

Question. Osasuna is one of only four clubs in La Liga without a single shareholder, having retained its status as a sports association. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this model?

Answer. In Spain, for many years, clubs competed as sports associations. In 1990, a law was passed forcing financially troubled clubs to convert into Sociedades Anónimas Deportivas (SADs). Only four clubs survived that transition, including Osasuna (along with Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Athletic Bilbao).

This creates several differences — especially regarding governance. In our case, for example, the Board of Directors holds elections every four years to renew leadership positions, whereas SADs don’t have elections. So in terms of management, clubs like ours are much more “democratic” than SADs.

There’s another very important factor: no pursuit of profit. SADs aim for financial returns in addition to sporting success, whereas a sports association like ours is about survival and generating social value, engaging with the community.

That said, the four remaining associations are very different from each other. Real Madrid and Barcelona are massive business projects, probably among the top four or five sports brands in the world — they’re money machines. Athletic Bilbao’s model is closer to ours, but they’re much bigger. A key difference is that Bilbao is very interconnected with Basque institutions. When they built their new stadium (San Mamés), 80–90% of the funding came from public institutions. At Osasuna, we paid everything ourselves. So it’s not a matter of better or worse — what matters to us is independence. We belong to our 21,000 members who renew their subscriptions every year.

Q: Does this model give you any tax benefits? Are there disadvantages?

A: No tax benefits at all. As for the downsides — more of a reality than a disadvantage — we have no share capital. A SAD can begin a project, buy players or build facilities by relying on capital contributions. We can only grow from the inside out. It’s a limitation, but also a challenge. It forces us to manage things differently.

Q: Compared to the other three — two global football giants and a unique case like Bilbao — Osasuna is a smaller club. Is maintaining a fan-owned model an extra achievement?

A: Historically, when the SAD conversion became mandatory, Osasuna had already been run for years with strict austerity — only spending what we could afford. That approach allowed us to build equity. Later, there were very difficult years before our arrival, when the club lost everything due to debt. Over the last 11 years, we’ve rebuilt and revived that model so the club could remain different.

Q: In recent years you returned to European competition (the Conference League in 2023/24, eliminated in the qualifiers), and came close again last season. Is there a long-term goal to qualify consistently for UEFA competitions?

A: Our primary sporting objective must always be to avoid relegation — and that’s very important. Objectives must align with the club’s economic reality. In terms of revenue, we rank somewhere between 13th and 20th in La Liga.

Of course, we’ve managed to build a solid squad that can deliver results, so we may now realistically aim higher in the table. But that’s a result of good scouting and smart financial planning — it’s not something you can guarantee every season.

Q: Regarding the summer transfer window — what are Osasuna’s plans?

A: We’ve signed a young prospect from Real Madrid, Víctor Muñoz, who has even played in a Clásico against Barcelona. We’ll make a few more additions, but essentially only our starting right-back, Jesús Areso, is leaving (to Athletic Bilbao). He’ll be replaced by Valentin Rosier, who played for Leganés last season.

We’re probably among the clubs that change their squad the least year over year — we retain the core. For instance, in the past ten years we’ve never fired a manager. We’re patient and calm in our decisions. We also have some of the lowest turnover numbers in Spain for player ins and outs — that’s our way of working.

Q: You said Madrid and Barcelona are among the top global football brands. How important is it to maintain good relationships with them, especially to access their youth talent?

A: Real Madrid doesn’t really have “good” relationships with any club. Not bad ones either — but they’re constantly at odds with the league as an organization. So no specific animosity, just general friction. With Barcelona it’s similar — they work their own way with younger players.

When we buy players from these clubs, the advantage we offer is solvency. We’re small, but very reliable. A financial agreement with us will be honored. Smaller clubs often struggle to pay what’s agreed. So the relationships might be polite, but they’re not close.

Q: La Liga enforces its own internal Financial Fair Play rules. What do you think of the system? Is it effective and fairly applied?

A: The big advantage of La Liga’s system is that we are the league. We voted on this system — everyone agreed, except Real Madrid. It has two sides: it forces sustainability (you can’t spend more than you earn), but also weakens us when facing foreign clubs, because the league loses competitiveness.

We’ve made up ground lately with players like Mbappé or Bellingham joining, but after Messi and Ronaldo left, the Premier League attracted most of the top stars. That hurt our international appeal — especially for TV rights. Still, it ensures you spend only what you can afford. There haven’t been bankruptcies in Spanish football for years — that proves the system is essential.

Q: To afford higher costs, revenues must rise. Where do you see growth potential? What’s your forecast for the 2024/25 financial year?

A: Last season’s revenue was about €80 million. The largest chunk — around €50 million — came from TV rights. From there, we grow on three pillars: season ticket holders, ticket sales, and hospitality.

Then we have sponsorships and player trading. We bring in over €11 million from sponsors, €8–9 million from ticketing, and around €9 million from player deals — a figure we’ll surpass in 2025/26.

We’ve kept a consistent strategy. Our current leadership team has generated around €34 million in profit — which allowed us to build a new stadium, fully paid for. Our only remaining debt is from the La Liga–CVC fund deal, to be repaid over 50 years, so it poses no real issue. Of course, every 2–3 years, we do need to sell a player to stay balanced — if others are making money and you aren’t, you fall behind.

Q: Speaking of the La Liga–CVC agreement (which Serie A rejected in 2021), do you consider it a good deal? Could something better have been done?

A: It’s an excellent deal. The revenue distribution was fair — based on previous TV income — and the spending rules were smart: only 15% could be used for squad improvement. It let us modernize. Clubs began focusing on social media — we went from 500,000 followers to over 6 million. We launched our own radio and YouTube channel to stream friendlies.

All this builds new sponsor value — partners pay more for 6 million followers than for 500,000. Now we have international, branding, and marketing departments — things we couldn’t dream of before.

Q: In Italy, some clubs have attracted foreign investors because of their city’s global fame — like Como, Pisa, or Verona. Pamplona could be similar. Do you foresee investor interest?

A: No. It’s impossible. First, our members would have to approve a sale, and they never would. Secondly, it’s not part of our plans. Unless a legal obligation forces us, it won’t happen.

Q: Pamplona has a strong, historic fanbase. How important is that in modern football, which is less rooted in local identity?

A: In Navarre, people often say the two things that unite us are Osasuna and San Fermín. So we’ve worked hard to stay out of political debates or anything divisive.

Our stadium seats 23,000, and we have about 20,500 members. Another 5,800 are on the waiting list, paying €50 a year. Our social strength is huge. This year, 99.75% of members renewed — of the tiny number who didn’t, most just forgot. Only 43 didn’t renew; of those, 32 passed away. So only 11 truly opted out. That tells us we’re doing things right.

Q: What does Osasuna mean to someone from Navarre?

A: In many Spanish cities, kids are born and root for Madrid or Barcelona, even if there’s a local team — like Hércules in Alicante. But in Pamplona, kids grow up Osasuna fans.

We work heavily with youth academies — we have more affiliate clubs than any other team in the world and track nearly 19,000 kids in a province of just 400,000. When a baby is born in Pamplona, they receive an Osasuna jersey. By high school, we’re already following them, and eventually some join us.

Right now, we’re starting construction on a new training complex: 12 fields and a 4,000-seat stadium. Our club must protect the youth system and keep our community connected to the team. When we reached the 2023 Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid — held in Seville, 1,200 km away — we brought nearly 30,000 fans. Madrid had 22,000. Of course, the better team usually wins, and beating Real isn’t easy.

Q: In some ways, Osasuna has an “Italian soul.” Macron is the kit sponsor, your coach is Alessio Lisci, and Ante Budimir (ex-Crotone) is part of the squad. Coincidence, or do you see something special in Italy?

A: We have a great deal with Macron, and we’re very happy with them. It’s a six-year contract signed last season. Macron is a modern brand that adapts to a club’s needs. This season’s kits are retro, paying tribute to two special years in Osasuna’s European history.

Our coach (Alessio Lisci) is Italian. He started young at Levante and had an amazing season last year in the second division with Mirandés — the league’s smallest budget. We’re very excited about him. What we wanted in him matches our identity: a fighting, combative spirit — what our fans expect.

And of course, there’s Ante Budimir. More Navarrese than Croatian by now. His fourth child was just born here. He’s been with us for many years and last year became the club’s all-time top scorer in La Liga. He’s a big part of our history — very disciplined, always looking to improve, never satisfied, often staying an hour after training.