A football club resembles a house of cards. A well-designed structure, with a solid base, allows you to grow without hesitation and to show off the highest card: the team. Nobody expected such decisiveness, involved in the fight to win the League, but Girona's success is not the result of chance. The Catalan club, backed by the City Football Group, has been strengthening its economic and sporting foundations for years. The next step, already designed, is to revalue its heritage by improving infrastructure. The challenge is to build a legacy beyond whether the ball goes in or not, which includes the new sports city in Vilablareix and the renovation of the stadium.
“We are not oblivious to the fact that Montilivi is very old and little investment has been made. When we went down to Second Division we said: 'we will live for a few years with the stadium we have'. We have returned to First Division and now we are almost forced to give this Girona a different scenario,” Ignasi Mas-Bagà, general director of Girona, explains to this newspaper at the III Club Days organized by LaLiga in Port Aventura.
The stadium, inaugurated in 1970 and the one with the smallest capacity in Primera (14,700), has been receiving improvements since 2018, the year in which the club agreed with the City Council to grant the concession until 2068 in exchange for an annual fee of about 200,000 euros and a progressive reform. The roadmap indicates that the first major change will come in 2028 with the reconstruction of the grandstand and the replacement of the roof. The north goal will follow in 2029, preferential in 2030 and the south goal in 2032. The process will be around 34 million and will allow capacity to be increased. All deadlines, however, will depend on the needs of the team, which has sold out tickets several times this year. The feat of entering Europe, an increasingly real option, requires effort. “UEFA has visited the stadium. Certain things have to be adapted to comply with the regulations, but it is feasible to do them in summer. The team's performance has led us to consider accelerating investments in the stadium. We are working to see what we invest in, in what sectors and stands,” says Mas-Bagà.
Montilivi will be the jewel, but the team's day-to-day life will also improve. Boosted by CVC money, which will give 70% of the total of 25 million, the forecast is to finish the sports city in 2026. The 23-hectare venue will have seven fields, four with artificial grass and three hybrids. The club headquarters will also be moved to the 16th century La Massana farmhouse, which will preside over the complex. The construction of the first phase, already approved by Urban Planning, will begin in the coming weeks with the building permit and will illuminate two fields for the first team. Míchel's pupils will leave training in La Vinya, at the PGA golf course in Caldes de Malavella, in July. The second phase, still pending bureaucracy, will host the women's team, the lower categories, the Genuine league and the veterans. “The priority is the sports city. We want to start from the base, betting on talent. We want to leave a mark, to let what is happening remain in time,” concluded Mas-Bagà.
