The Vitoria-based group will be responsible for comprehensively managing this club over the coming years, as part of a cooperation agreement to combine each side’s respective strengths.
This project will apply the Vitoria-based group’s successful model for sports management, considered a point of reference abroad. A business-strengthening model aiming to regenerate this long-standing French team’s stability, a team hoping to grow and bloom as a result of this new period of cooperation with the Baskonia-Alavés Group.
Saski Baskonia’s almost 60 years of history and its successful management model – which has led it to become a pioneering, benchmark club in Spain and part of the European elite of the continent’s most important clubs – endorse a club which successfully applied this model to the Deportivo Alavés team. After taking over its management in 2011, Saski Baskonia took Deportivo Alavés from Second Division B, with an accrued debt of over 20 million Euros, to the First Division.
In this case, the Baskonia-Alavés Group has embarked on a new international venture, within its internationalisation framework. A journey which began with the Rudes club in Croatia, where comprehensive management has also been applied to every area. Moreover, the support of pioneering performance systems, such as the BAL system led by Igor Jukic from Vitoria, will also be shared in France. A partnership which has taken this Croatian club to the First Division, from where it looks towards a successful, stable future.
Founded in 1928, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard is a historical French club, which has won the French First Division twice and the French Cup for an additional two seasons. The team of an ambitious, hard-working city which, in many ways, is mirrored in Vitoria, not only in terms of football but also on a business level. This collaboration will work towards increasing business projects between these two cities. Through this business club, two areas with much in common are brought together. Sochaux-Montbéliard is highly industrial, with a very important Peugeot factory.
The agreement will also serve to forge football-based links between teams from both countries, through both financial and sporting operations. For the Baskonia-Alavés Group, this is a wonderful opportunity to provide the Sochaux-Montbéliard team – currently the Second Division in its home country – with stability and a bright future.
Lastly, the Baskonia-Alavés Group would like to thank all the members of the French team for committing to its model, particularly the current owner of Sochaux-Montbéliard, Mr. Wing Sang Li, for placing his trust in us.