The rebranding of Real Betis: how they became one of Europe’s most progressive football clubs
Amidst turbulent ownership and managerial strategies, Real Betis Balompié have always been one of Spanish football’s ever present but never achieving teams. But the future looks bright (green)
In June 2009 the Seville city streets were lined with tens of thousands of Real Betis fans to protest the mismanagement of long-serving president Manuel Ruiz Lopera. Fast forward 13 years and tens of thousands of faithful Verdiblancos fans surrounded the Estadio de La Cartuja, celebrating their penalty shoot-out win over Valencia in the Copa del Rey final, the clubs third major trophy in its entire history.
It was the culmination of a fine run of form through the seasons closing months, as well as the latest chapter in a long process of stabilisation and rebranding at a club that’s fans have had their fair share of rollercoaster rides.
After years of tumultuous transitions between managers, in stepped Manuel Pellegrini in summer 2020. Having laid down the foundations for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, the Chilean struggled to make an impact at West Ham where he was dismissed of his duties and not afforded time to turn things around. But at Betis it didn’t take him long to impose a new ethos. With a new identity and stubbornness within the team, Pellegrini quickly acquired the best win rate of any of the club’s previous managers after 20 games.
During his tenure, Pellegrini has been the benefactor of a squad packing loads of raw ability. Since he has been at the club, the transfer policy has been to recruit players who were at peak ages but yet to reach the promise they showed as youngsters.
Players such as La Masia graduates Marc Bartra and Christian Tello, Ex-Lyon and France midfielder Nabil Fekir and former Real Madrid prodigy Sergio Canales are all examples who have found the right platform to showcase their capabilities at Betis.
Other players have also contributed to the recent success at the club whilst turning their careers around. The likes of William Carvalho, who has had clubs from other leagues circling him for the last couple of transfer windows has found his place at home in the Betis midfield, Guido Rodriguez alongside him in a double-pivot at the base of the midfield, has now become a regular for Argentina and last season boyhood fan Hector Bellerin arrived on loan from Arsenal, revitalised his career and earnt a move back to Barcelona this summer.
Despite Pellegrini’s reputation as a man who prioritises caution over chaos, he has adopted a new approach at the Andalusian side. His team were the fifth-highest scorers in La Liga last season with 62 goals. Had it not been for injuries, this could have been higher as they netted 41 of those goals in the first 23 games. In Europe the Spanish side averaged over two goals a game and scored more than any other team on their way to the Copa del Rey cup win.
The improvement in attack has come from greater internal competition within the squad. Key contributors for goals last season came from top-scorer Juanmi who once had a failed spell at Southampton, Borja Iglesias who had a barren stint at Espanyol and Willian Jose who joined on loan after performances at Wolves failed to make him a regular at Molineux.
These improvements at the club have all been greatly appreciated by Betis fans, who have seen city-neighbours Sevilla overtake them in terms of status in recent years largely due to their multiple Europa League successes. Throughout this period though, the Verdiblancos fans have always claimed they remain the region’s biggest club – a valid argument with their 46,374 season ticket holders. The club boasts La Liga’s third-highest average attendance at their Benito Villamarin stadium with just under 39,000 per game.
Because of this they depend on stadium revenue more than most clubs in La Liga which meant they had to suffer more than most during the pandemic. The club has also boosted income through the years by sacrificing success through sales. The names of players to have moved on for significant fees include Dani Ceballos to Real Madrid, Giovani Lo Celso to Tottenham, Fabian Ruiz to Napoli and Emerson Royal to Barcelona.
But this is something the club wants to leave in the past. To have any chance of success the club now aims to protect and reward their assets instead of letting them go. In January, Pellegrini extended his deal with two-additional years, keeping him at the club until at least 2025. Key players have also extended their contracts such as the likes of Canales, Carvalho, left-back Alex Moreno and Fekir, who despite offers elsewhere, now feels settled in the city with his family and wants to stay.
With this new stable approach, Betis have rebranded themselves on the pitch. Now they seek to balance the books by competing at the highest level and expanding their horizons beyond La Liga. Last season’s European campaign was key to helping the club’s finances and they’ll look for the same this season. Off the pitch the club has rebranded itself as well. A new focus on international expansion and marketing has seen the club find a new identity and so far, it is paying off.
In October 2020, Real Betis launched their ‘Forever Green’ project – an open sustainability platform for companies and institutions that want to use the most popular sport in the world to save the planet through partnerships with the club. The new focus from the board was to centre its brand positioning on environmental sustainability.
Club president Ángel Haro led meetings to establish the Forever Green project with director of communications, Julio Jiménez, business director, Ramón Alarcón and Rafael Muela, manager of the Real Betis Balompié Foundation in order to find new ways of engaging the fans and improving the clubs outlook not just in Spain but internationally. They made the decision to become the first club to join the United Nations initiative ´Climate Neutral Now’ in a bid to stand out in a global setting.
Since launching Forever Green, Betis have partnered with eco-focused organisations such as Ecólatras and Lime alongside working closely with Seville City Council through a variety of sustainability projects. In focusing their values on the environment and sustainability, the club has helped improve the fans perception of their brand, something they hope will benefit them moving into a new era of hope and promise.
The new identity both on and off the pitch has given Betis fans new reasons to keep faith in the club. Whilst for many years the fans stood by their team without getting much in return, the club is now starting to provide them with positives and rewards for their steadfast support. The Copa del Rey embodies this as a trophy while their ongoing focus towards helping the environment helps ensure the famous green and white of the Verdiblancos is seen in football stadiums long into the future.