What: Atlético Madrid creates a subsidiary company to manage its teams around the world.
Why it matters: Because the board of directors of Los Colchoneros announced the creation of the company to protect the club’s finances, strengthen relations between its institutions, and help position the related brands involved in countries such as Mexico, India, and France.
Club Atlético de Madrid of La Liga is keeping its sights on international growth and its interaction with teams around the world. To this end, the club’s shareholders voted in favor of creating a subsidiary operating company to manage the new teams that join the Colchoneros family in countries like Mexico, India, and France.
In mid-February, the club announced an alliance with the San Luis Potosí team. The Spanish club acquired 50% of the Mexican team’s shares in an operation that also involved Mexican businessmen and the state government of Potosí.
Following its restructuring, Atlético San Luis will return under the new Spanish management to the Liga Ascenso BBVA Bancomer MX ̶ the second division Mexican soccer league ̶ at the beginning of the upcoming 2017-2018 season.
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This is the latest addition to the Atlético’s sports portfolio, which already includes the Atlético de Kolkata of the Indian Super League (which the club helped form in 2014 as part of the Kolkata Games and Sports consortium) and the RC Lens club of the French Ligue 2, of which it recently bought a 35% stake.
The new company will be managing these and potential future investments, in order to protect Atlético’s finances from any losses it may incur during the start of this renewed expansion project.
In addition to providing financial cover, the new subsidiary is also expected to take over institutional relationships between the teams. Part of Atlético de Madrid’s plan is to take advantage of this expansion to encourage the development of players and coaches through international sports and scouting networks, as well as set up corporate departments to promote related brands.
The new company will delimit the boundary between the teams in which Atlético holds shares and those that are part of the Madrid franchise. The sporting and financial responsibility of its women’s soccer and lower soccer divisions, as well as the basketball, handball, and motorsports teams, will remain under the administrative management of Atlético Madrid.
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