Dubai group set to buy Getafe
Reuters - Wednesday 20 April 2011, 13:01
DUBAI - Royal Emirates Group will buy La
Liga club Getafe for about 90 million euros,
the Dubai firm said on Wednesday following earlier reports it
was eyeing a Spanish soccer team.
"It is Getafe... we will announce it in a big way tomorrow,"
Suleiman al Butti, project manager of Royal Emirates Group, told
Reuters.
Royal Emirates, an investment firm chaired by Sheikh Butti
Bin Suhail Al Maktoum, said in statement on Tuesday the club
would be named "Team Dubai", although it was not clear whether
that would become the team's official name.
The deal would be the third for a La Liga club involving a
non-Spanish buyer in the past year following the sale of Malaga
to a member of the Qatari royal family and the purchase of
Racing Santander by an Indian businessman.
Getafe president Angel Torres was quoted in Spanish media on
Wednesday as saying a deal had not been finalised. He said he
planned to travel to Dubai on Thursday to seek sponsorship.
"I have not sold the club to anyone," Torres told sports
daily Marca. He added that he was heading to Dubai "only to look
for solutions for next season".
"They have invited me to a presentation which this company
(Royal Emirates Group) sponsors and I am going with the idea of
holding meetings to find sponsors, who will improve Getafe's
image, as well as a new name for the stadium."
Royal Emirates Group said on Tuesday Dubai's minister of
culture, the Spanish ambassador and "many other corporate icons
and members of the ruling family of Dubai" would attend an event
scheduled on Thursday to announce the deal.
Getafe are 14th in La Liga with 37 points from 32 games and
hovering just above the relegation zone.