Alianza Lima and Sporting Cristal lost in their debut, how far are they from River Plate and Flamengo economically?

The Betsson bookmaker published their favorites to win the Libertadores Cup this year. The first of the 32 participants is the Brazilian flamingo with a fee of S / 5 earned for each sun invested. In fourth place is the Argentine River Plate, which multiplies the investment by nine. Both coincidentally were the rivals of Sporting Cristal and Alianza Lima on the first date of the continental tournament. The Peruvian representatives lost at home without being able to score a goal.

The superiority of the continental giants is not only seen on the pitch, but also off it. “The Brazilian and Argentine tournaments have a strong domestic market, but the main income of their clubs is international sales. River, only with the sale of Julián Álvarez to Manchester City in January, he will earn 18.5 million euros. That is more than the budget of a whole year of the Peruvian teams”, affirms Raúl Rosales, director of the Sports Administration and Business course at the UPC. Proof of this is that in 2019 the blue and white club broke the record for the highest income in Peruvian football by obtaining S / 59 million in total. The sale of the Argentine striker exceeds that figure.

On the other hand, flamingo in 2019 closed the signings of Vinicius Jr. to Real Madrid for 45 million euros, and Lucas Paquetá to Milan for 38 million euros. Their sales are not the flower of a day, since in mid-2021 they sold Gerson to Marseille for 20 million euros.

Lima Alliance, meanwhile, has not transferred a player since last year when he loaned Kluiverth Aguilar to Manchester City Group for more than US$2 million. He today plays in the second division of Belgium. In 2020 he sold Aldair Fuentes to Fuenlabrada for 700 thousand euros. The steering wheel returned to La Victoria this year.

Glass, on the other hand, has been doing a better job in its academies, which has allowed it to export more players, but for even lower amounts. Since 2017 he has transferred Pedro Aquino, Fernando Pacheco, Ray Sandoval, Luis Abram and Marcos López, but no sale exceeded the million euro barrier.

“Save for Glass, which has invested in its quarries, in Peru the teams are still hiring foreign players who are not in big teams or who come from the second division to close the level gap. His only goal is to win the local tournament”, remarks Rosales.

The leaders

Another key factor in the operation of River Y flamingo it is their corporate governments, which took hold after both faced sports and economic crises at the beginning of the last decade.

“River stands out because its corporate organization assigns the right people to each position. It seems obvious, but in sports organizations it is not. In their case, the leaders focus on processes and not on people. This implies that when a senior leader leaves, the organizational culture of the club based on processes allows you to face changes without affecting the operation.”, highlights Gonzalo Guerra García, professor of the marketing master’s degree at ESAN.

Having the right managers also reinforces the possibility of getting ahead in times of adversity. The Argentine team fell in 2011, while in the middle of the last decade the Brazilian giant faced an economic crisis from which it came out calling on its fans to invest. “flamingo It has approximately 40 million fans associated with the club and they supported them to carry out a campaign so that they can make contributions to the team and get them out of that situation. This consisted of communicating emotionally and through this strategy they managed to double their box office income. That’s why it’s important to have the right people in the right jobs.”, adds Guerra Garcia.

For now, the leadership of Lima Alliance Y Sporting Crystal they have a smaller capital of fans with which to work. The former achieved more than 8,000 subscribers to its Become Intimate campaign, which offers benefits in selected stores, as well as exclusive access to multimedia content. Meanwhile, in the beer industry they seek to generate a family image. All their online publications have the hashtag #SomosFamilia and at the beginning of the year they carried out a greeting campaign for their subscribers.

A hit at the box office

Due to the mandatory social immobilization imposed by the Government in Lima last Tuesday, Sporting Crystal played without an audience flamingo. It was estimated that the National Stadium looked between 70% and 80% full. The Rimense club indicated that its fans could request a refund of their money or exchange their ticket for another for the next match of the group stage of the Liberators.

Also, during the day the game had been suspended, but finally it was played hours late after President Pedro Castillo lifted the immobilization order. The Brazilian team spent the whole day between the concentration hotel and the stadium.