ISSUE 12 of FUTBOLISTA Magazine is now available to order for only £7.99 plus shipping. The magazine features some of the best stories from Spanish and Portuguese football, with long-form writing and photography on Valencia, Málaga, Zaragoza, Braga, Benfica and more.
A warm welcome to the twelfth issue of FUTBOLISTA Magazine. This edition marks a first for the magazine, with all 112 pages dedicated to one theme: Spanish and Portuguese football. After a stellar summer for the Spanish game, victorious at UEFA Euro 2024 and in Olympic football, our timing could not be better. It has been almost a year in the making on my part, with on-the-ground reporting and photography from matches from September 2023 onwards. First, an extract from this issue’s cover feature, ‘The Battle For The Soul Of Valencia’, available to read in full on page 08 of the magazine:
‘A decade of ownership under Singaporean billionaire Lim had “crushed, shut up and silenced” the Valencia fanbase, Pérez said. With the days of cheering their trophy-winning players on the stadium balcony above long gone, the atmosphere on Avenida de Suecia when the protest later kicked off was volatile and messy — as it has been for countless other recent demonstrations, including the previous Mestalla boycott.
After that headline-making day two years ago, why has nothing changed? “[The boycott] has happened again because they continue killing Valencia Club de Fútbol,” Pérez declared. He is a man who speaks with absolute certainty in his views, determined to transmit an exhaustion felt by many Valencianistas.
“What people in the dark have to understand is this: what would happen at your football club if whoever owned it wasn’t interested in things going well on the pitch?” he continued. “But [Peter Lim] also wasn’t interested in the club doing well financially, and he isn’t interested whether or not the fans are happy either. Instead, he is trampling on us, humiliating us.”’
In ISSUE 12’s Features section, stories on Málaga, Hércules and Castellón also focus on the rise and fall of some of Spain’s sleeping giants, blighted by poor ownership but balanced with tales of hope. Dylan Chavasse’s Zaragoza travel guide is not to be missed on page 62, covering the stadium, the food and the best of the city. Long-form writing is mixed with an emphasis on photography, including two photo essays from my year abroad teaching English in Spain, at Levante and Braga matches respectively.
At the back, our contributors tackle a variety of topics in this issue’s Journal section. Joseph O’Sullivan argues against the use of the ‘B’ team system in Spain, while Kris Scrimgeour and Lee Alves pen historical pieces on Lisbon’s Benfica and Sporting.
Thank you for your continued support of FUTBOLISTA Magazine. It remains a personal project in my free time and while it is not published as regularly as I would like, I hope the ever-increasing quality of writing, design and photography makes up for that. As ever, if you can share the magazine with even one friend or family member it is greatly appreciated. Click here to order the magazine.
The cover price of the magazine remains at £7.99, as it has since 2021. Meanwhile, ever-increasing shipping costs have forced UK postage fees to be raised by £0.25. Shipping to Europe and Ireland is now £5.50, an increase of £0.50.
