A confident start for Real Mallorca at the weekend back in La liga with a 1-1 draw against Real Betis. Betis finished last season unbeaten in their last 16 games and earned themselves a place in the Europa League. So Mallorca must be pleased with the outcome. It’s important to pick up points in this league and after dominating the first half they lost their way a little in the second half. But it was vital that if they couldn’t win they didn’t lose. 

Coach Luis Garcia Plaza said “I’m a bit disappointed with the draw. The first half was pretty good, but in the second half we could have done better. It’s a point, we have to be happy, but I think we could have won.

“We tried to be us: in the first half we played in the opponent’s half against an opposition that has a lot of possession and quality. Even so, the feeling I have is that we could have won. It’s not the same to be losing and then draw than the opposite. We lacked a little more up front although we tried.

“We kept to our ideas of last season and we tried to be us, but we lacked possession in the second half. We have to be satisfied. Anything that can be gained is positive – the opponent is a Europa League team.”

This week they have strengthened the position that is most needed at centre forward. Fernando Niño has joined on a season-long loan from Villarreal. The 20 year old striker scored eight goals in 28 games for his parent club across LaLiga, Europa League and Copa del Rey last season. 

Niño is also the son of former RCD Mallorca centre back Fernando Niño who made 189 appearances for the club from 1998 to 2005 and he’s taken his Dads old number 26. Let’s hope he hits the ground running this Saturday away at Alaves at 17.00. Alaves got gubbed 1-4 at home last week by Real Madrid so a chance for Mallorca to get some points on the road. Remember two years ago when Mallorca were relegated from La Liga they only picked up 6 points away, with 1 win and 3 draws. If they want to stay up this season away points will be the key. 

A great draw for UD Ibiza in their first ever game in La Segunda away against Real Zaragoza. In the highlights I saw it looked like they had the best of the game and were unlucky not to come away with all three points. 

Coach Juan Carlos Carcedo said “the team didn’t suffer too much and I thought we deserved the point. We were brave and we wanted the 3 points but we leave happy. We are enjoying this division and all that it brings”.

This Sunday at 17.00 they have their first home game against Malaga, who like Ibiza got a 0-0 draw last weekend. Malaga were Champions League quarter finalists in the 2012/13 season but a steady decline since then saw them relegated from La Liga in the 2017/18 season. 

Due to Balearic Government restrictions at 40% of a grounds capacity, 2,495 can attend this weeks game. More details about the other restrictions for the game can be found at https://www.ibizaud.com/en/

Atlético Baleares kick off their season next weekend on August 29th away against Cornelia, kick-off at 12 midday. They’re in Segunda RFEF group 2 and will have some very interesting games during the season. The B teams of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla, Villareal, Real Betis are in the same league along with a trip to Andorra too. 

This Sunday they have their traditional opening game where they present the team to the fans. They should have been playing CD Ibiza but they’ve had an outbreak of Covid in the playing staff, so CD Manacor have stepped in. The team will be presented at 18.00 with the game kicking off at 19.00. 

Retaining coach Xavi Calm and signing centre forward Vinicius Tanque are the two key bits of business for me this pre-season. They’ve also kept English born, former Tottenham player Armando Shashoua and we’ll try and get an interview with him soon. 

In other news the club announced that they’d passed 2,000 season ticket holders this week which is great news and former player Pedro Ortiz made his first team debut for Sevilla v Rayo Vallecano in La Liga last weekend, he came on as sub in the 83rd minute. Born in Soller he played for Baleares Juvenil and made his debut in the first team in the 2018/19 season. He moved to Sevilla at the end of that season to play for their B team. Good to see young Balearic born players doing so well.

Segunda RFEF, Tercera RFEF and Division Honor which is the highest level of youth football, all start on September 5th so we’ll look at them next week.  

Take care everyone. 

Richie presents the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear him on the radio then you’ll find him working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again he may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow him on Twitter @DadTaxi1 & Instagram @dad.taxi or feel free to email him at rprior@globobalear.com 

At the end of the 2020/21 season the Spanish Football pyramid was restructured and here is how it now looks.

La Liga is the highest level in the Spanish football league system and is operated by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (LFP).

Segunda División, also called LaLiga SmartBank is the second highest level in the Spanish football league system and is also operated by the LFP.

The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) created a new tier to begin in the 2021/22 season placed between the Segunda División and the former Segunda División B. The federation officially named the third tier, containing two regionalised groups, the Primera Division RFEF.

Below the new Primera División RFEF sits the fourth tier, the Segunda Division RFEF roughly corresponding to the format of Segunda B and in the new format has five regionalised groups.

Following the reorganisation, the Tercera Division RFEF is the fifth highest level in the Spanish football league system and is operated by the RFEF and 17 regional federations corresponding to each of the autonomous communities of Spain, there are 18 groups as Andalucía is divided into two due to its size. 

From level 6, each of the 19 regional federations of RFEF run their regional league pyramid under their own jurisdiction.

So what does that mean for our Balearic teams this season?

La Liga: Real Mallorca 

Segunda: UD Ibiza

Primera RFEF: Group 2: Atlético Baleares

Segunda RFEF: Group 3: Andratx, SCR Peña Deportiva, CD Ibiza Isla Pitiusas, SD Formentera. 

Tercera RFEF: The Balearic League: CD Binissalem, CE Campos, UD Collerense, CE Constancia, CE Felanitx, Inter Ibiza CD, CD Llosetense, RCD Mallorca B, CD Manacor, CE Mercadal, CD Murense, CF Platges de Calvia, UD Poblense, SD Portmany, UD Rotlet Molinar, CE Santanyi, PE Sant Jordi, Ibiza Sant Rafel FC, CD Severense, CF Soller & UD Son Veri. 

Real Mallorca have been busy since their promotion back to La Liga. A five year shirt deal with Nike and a settlement of their debt with the tax office are two off field deals that put the club on a good footing. 

On the pitch the main deals have been, Budimir moving permanently to Osasuna, Luka Romero permanently to Lazio, Fran Gamez permanently to Real Zaragoza and Braian Cufre to Malaga on loan.

This time round they have pretty much kept the squad together and brought in players with La Liga experience.

Amath Ndiaye who was on loan last season scoring 9 goals, has joined permanently from Getafe. Ángel Rodríguez has also joined from Getafe, he’s scored 36 goals in La Liga in the last 4 years. Goalkeeper Dominik Greif has joined on a 5 year deal from Slovak Bratislava as cover for Manolo Reina. Pablo Maffeo has joined the club on a season-long loan from VfB Stuttgart with an obligation to purchase based on performance-related conditions. The full back will reinforce the defensive unit and heads to the Visit Mallorca Estadi having previously featured 58 times in La Liga during spells with Girona FC and SD Huesca.

Left back Jaume Costa has arrived on a free transfer and brings a wealth of experience to the Visit Mallorca Estadi having played 198 games in La liga with spells at Villarreal CF and Valencia CF. Rodrigo Battaglia has joined from Sporting Portugal until the end of the season. The midfielder spent last season on loan at Deportivo Alavés in La Liga where he featured 35 times.

Probably the best signing is Takefuso Kubo who joins on a season long loan from Real Madrid. He was with Mallorca for the 2019/20 season scoring 4 goals. The Japanese international spent last year on loan at Villarreal and then Getafe CF where he featured 37 times and helped his country reach the semi-finals of the Olympics. 

They’ve had a good pre-season only losing one game to Huesca and begin their La liga campaign this weekend against Real Betis at the Visit Mallorca Estadi. The local government has permitted an increase of fans allowed at the Visit Mallorca Estadi to 8,775 for the opening two games of the season against Real Betis and Espanyol respectively. Details can be found on the RCD Mallorca website. 

UD Ibiza find themselves in the dizzy heights of La Segunda, the highest a team from the island has been in the Spanish football pyramid. There’s great excitement on the White Isle, my colleague in Ibiza Martin tells me. Ibiza’s job this season is to survive and it will be interesting to see how they get on. They have the advantage that nobody knows what to expect from them and I think they will surprise a few people. Their coach Juan Carlos Carcedo had a good first season at the club and his experiences as Unai Emery’s number 2 will stand him in good stead for the task ahead. Their first game tomorrow night against Real Zaragoza kicks off at 22.00.

Atlético Baleares take their bow in the newly formed Primera RFEF on the 29th of August so I’ll have a look at them next week, 

Segunda RFEF, Tercera RFEF and Division Honor which is the highest level of youth football, all start on September 5th so we’ll look at them nearer the time. 

Take care everyone. 

I present the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca and 102fm in Calvià, online at www.radioonemallorca.com on mobile through their free App for IPhone & Android, The Tunein Radio App, iTunes, the Spanish TDT TV service and all smart speakers. If you can’t hear me on the radio then you’ll find me working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again i may make an understudy appearance! 

Follow us on Twitter @KickBalearics & Instagram @akickintbebalearics or feel free to email me at rprior@globobalear.com