“The club is a tribute to our parents, to their history, to the region of Murcia, to what their childhood was like before they migrated decades ago.” This is the cover letter sent by Antonio Diaz, President CD Siza, … He speaks and presents the football work he created with his cousin, who has the same name, but is known worldwide as “El Mago Pop” in the capital of Vega Alta del Segura, a club of the fifth category of national football that will face on Wednesday Levante in the Copa del Rey, four levels above. “We mix sports and culture, football and illusionAt La Arbolega and at the Victoria Theater in Barcelona. On either side hangs an Everything Sold sign; In the Cieza, today, with almost three thousand fans, and on the Avenida del Paralelo, where there are no tickets left for their last show “Nothing is Impossible”, which ends in March.
“We are from a very humble family, we have many brothers who sold what they had when our grandfather died very young to go to Barcelona many years ago,” comments the current president of Kayan, despite the humility that guides them, he is sad. “I’m the president because I live here, but 80% of the shares are from Mago Pop.” Explains the person who is also the CFO who runs his cousin’s companies, the world’s highest-paid con man. “Our parents were brothers and were obsessed with football. Although they were born in another city, Santomira, my father stayed in Murcia and was a footballer, eventually playing for Ceiza, where he later stayed and made his life.”
“The club is a tribute to our parents, to their history, to Murcia, to what their childhood was like before they emigrated decades ago.”
Antonio Diaz
President CD Cieza
With the exception of him, the rest of the family made their history on the outskirts of the Catalan capital, in small buildings resulting from the development of the 1970s. “Our relatives grew up in poverty“Badía del Valles was a very bad place when they arrived,” he says. That’s why “when we thought about creating a football team, we only looked at two options; or Siza or Badia, but we decided to choose Siza because of the history of our parents, and because of their efforts, to keep the roots growing from below. That’s why we didn’t want to buy another unified club in higher categories,” explains the current president, who points out that “the team was much smaller but we managed to get promoted from Preferiente a few years ago. Bob Wizard was then in the city in I think that’s the only time he’s been with us here in Siza, but it’s very difficult.” For him because of the number of offers he made.
Close to upgrading to RFEF II
Since his arrival at the hotel, the club has taken a major step forward in its management. From being one more in the Murcian province categories, to fighting for promotion to the Spanish Second League in two consecutive seasons, he remained in the playoffs with the honey. “We move more than five hundred players to the bases, which is a large number for the region,” says José Manuel Lucas, general manager of the club whose shirt years ago was defended by Rayo Vallecano player Esi Palazón, a native of the city.
Ceiza’s team, which has a family relationship with Alaves – “In the coming weeks, the best players from our team will go to train with them for a few days” -, It was eliminated in the previous match by another professional football club, Córdobafrom the Hypermotion League, achieving the surprise despite the jumps in the three categories. “For us, this is still an opportunity to expose ourselves, to be known, but what matters to us is promotion and Sunday’s match against the reserve team of Real Murcia, second in the standings, where we play to extend the distance and open the gap,” explains the club president who knows that “the Copa del Rey is very good, it is exciting, but this is our year, our third chance for promotion and we have to do it as the first team in the group, not worthy of playing in the leagues.”
Today, with success guaranteed in some crumbling stands at La Arboleja (there’s never been three thousand spectators here with all the extra stands we’ve put in. That would be a record for Siezza, says Totti), they can only hope Levante don’t show their best potential and pull off an upset. This is what Ranko Despotovic, their current coach with a past at Girona, Alaves or Real Murcia, says: “For us, the game represents a challenge, something special, but it will not make us change our routine. We have maximum enthusiasm and we will enjoy it,” although it is clear that “the only thing I ask of my players is to compete to the maximum, as is the case in the league.”
His relationship with the club owner is one of rumors and a presence in the environment that is talked about at all times: “I don’t know him yet, but I am convinced that if we go up we will definitely see him with us,” he comments with a smile next to Florian Tolmesi, his player with the greatest history having played in the Champions League or Europa League for AEK Larnaca in Ciputra for almost a decade. The French striker, who extended his career with the team at the age of nearly forty, knows that this type of match moves more on an emotional level than on a football level. “For the young ones, it’s an opportunity, but it has to be just a party before we continue to think about our goal of moving up.”
Antonio Diaz, the greatest representative of the club’s management, is aware of the special weight that Mago Pop has in the privacy of the club. “He gives us everything, but more than vision, what he gives us is stability and patience to continue our streak.”. Tonight will be another 567 kilometers away from the Victoria Theater, where he continues his show “You will see us today for sure. In the dressing room he has a giant TV where he usually watches football – it is absolutely Barcelona – and he will be in time to see the second half for sure. He is a great fan and he lives it”, concludes the president of the Murcia club, who hopes that Levante, who will arrive shaken after the dismissal of Calero, will not exhaust us. We have to think about that. Sunday, here lies the real hope for promotion.”
Dates of the second round of the cup matches
Tuesday 2 December
Numancia 2 – 3 Mallorca
Portugal 0 – 3 Alaves
Racing Ferrol 0 – 2 Huesca
Ebro 3 – 5 Osasuna
Guadalajara 1 – 0 Ceuta
Navalcarneiro 2 – 3 Getafe
Wednesday 3 December
Mirandes Sporting 8:00pm (TPA)
Cultural Leonessa – Andorra 8:00 pm
Eldense-Almeria 8:00 pm
Talavera-Malaga 8:00 pm
Real Murcia Cadiz 8:00 pm.
in. Antonio – Villarreal 9.00 pm. (Movistar)
Ourense – Girona 9:00 pm. (Movistar)
Quintanar del Rey Elche 9:00pm (Movistar)
Rios Redes-R. Community 9:00 PM (Movistar)
Torrent – Betis 9:00 pm. (television broadcast)
Pontevedra – Eibar 9:00 pm (TVG)
Siza – Levante 9:00 pm (Movistar)
Thursday 4 December
Leganés – Albacete 7.00 pm. (CMM)
Avila – Rayo Vallecano 7:00 pm (Movistar)
in. Balearic Islands – Espanyol 7:00 pm. (Movistar)
Sabadell – Deportivo 7:00 pm. (3 cat)
Ponferradina Race 8:00 PM
Cartagena – Valencia 9.00 pm (Movistar)
Extremadura – Seville 9:00 pm (Movistar)
St. Andrew Celta 9:00 pm (Movistar, Tildeporte)
Zaragoza – Burgos 9:00 pm. (Aragon TV)
Tenerife – Granada 10:00 pm. (Movistar)