Girona’s historic high

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  • The streets and squares of the city were once again filled this Monday with thousands of people to celebrate the double promotion of basketball and football achieved in just 136 minutes: from 8:45 p.m. to 11:01 p.m. on Sunday.

Girona continues rubbing his eyes to confirm that don’t live a dream: that he double ascent achieved in just 136 minutesfrom 8:45 p.m. to 11:01 p.m. on Sunday, it is a reality that Girona FC will play next season in the First Division and Bàsquet Girona will live in the Endesa League.

As happened on Sunday night itself, this Monday afternoon the streets and squares of the city were once again filled with thousands of people: some shirts had sleeves, others did not, but all were red and white. There were many young people. Many were the age of Arnau Martínez, who scored the winning goal in Tenerife (1-3) and kissed the Girona shield. There were also adult people, from the age of Cristhian Stuani or Marc Gasol. And older, also grandparents.

In the central Plaza del Vi, seat of the City Council, Stuani, the captain, assured: «I we have achieved. We have fallen and we have risen again. And we are there, in First ». It’s already him top scorer of the club’s history (106 goals, 24 this season). And the best player of him. Many claim a statue for him.

Marc Gasol, Stuani and Michel

Just before, gasoline, pivot and president of Bàsquet Girona, acknowledged: «For us this is a party. We did not expect to be here, and sharing this moment with the Girona football club makes it even more special». I know fell in love with Girona in his stage in Akasvayu (2006-2008) and, ignoring siren songs, even a proposal from the Barcadecided to play for his club.

He created it in 2014, focusing on young and in values, and now, in addition to inaugurating a female academy base next to Laia Palau, has brought elite basketball back to the city. When Girona arrived, they had a balance of two wins in nine days. Today the city celebrates that it has returned to the ACB 14 years later, after beating Estudiantes.

This Monday was one of the most acclaimed, along with Stuani Already Michael Sanchez, Girona coach. «As the sardana says, Girona falls in love. He has my heart stolen. Our dream was to go up to First. And we are already First », he shouted before the Plaza del Vi, between chants of Michel Catalan.

From the “resilience”

The Madrid coach has been the father of the ascent. And he does not forget that when many asked for his head, the management redoubled its commitment to him. The team was in decline on matchday 12, after adding 12 of the first 36 points, but Quique Cárcel kept his faith in him. And even he renewed it until 2024 before certifying the play-off.

It has responded with results: it has celebrated its third promotion to First, after going up with Rayo (2018) and with Huesca (2020). And he has celebrated it with the associative game that is the trademark of the City Football Group: three of the five players with the most passes in the regular league are from Girona: Juanpe, Bernardo Espinosa and Aleix García.

The ascent was achieved from “resilience”, as Michel remarks. And it was also achieved changing history Girona in the play-off: the club had played half of the promotions played under the current format, 6 of 12, and was the only team that had lost more than one final (4), but on Sunday all ghosts were buried: the name of Tenerife will generate joy, not pain like those of elche and the Vallecano Rayvillains in 2020 and 2021. For the third season in a row, the sixth-place finisher in the regular league was promoted via promotion.

only six cities

The city has cried a lot for football, but now it will live its third campaign among giants, after the years with Pablo Machin (2017-18) and Eusebio Sacristan (2018-19, in which he was lowered to Second after adding only three points from the last 30). Girona will be, next season, one of the only six cities in Spain with elite football and basketball teams. It will take over from Vitoria (250,000 inhabitants), whose Alavés has dropped to Second, and will be the least populated of the six, with 101,932 inhabitants and behind Madrid (3 million), Barcelona (1.6 million), Valencia (790,000 ), Seville (688,000) and Bilbao (345,000).

The Girona Chamber of Commerce has already estimated the economic impact of the promotion of football and basketball to the First Division at up to 40 million euros

And the city will notice it, also in the portfolio: the Girona Chamber of Commerce has already estimated at up to 40 million euros the economic impact of the rise of football and basketball to the First Division. Until 25 million would correspond to football, while the rest would be in charge of Bàsquet Girona, with Gasol as the standard, and also of Uni Girona, which this season, the last with Laia Palau, has once again finished among the top eight clubs in the women’s basketball Euroleague, and the Girona Hoquei Club, OK Liga club.

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In fact, in 2018, after Girona FC’s first season in the First Division, the Girona Chamber of Commerce itself already encrypted €22.6 million the economic impact for the province of having a club in the highest category, with the hotel and restaurant sectors as the main drivers. The impact of the Girona FC brand was estimated at 8.02 million euros: in other words, 8.02 million euros should have been invested in advertising to obtain a media effect similar to that achieved thanks to Girona.

But, although the money fills the pockets, the people of Girona affirm that the ascent fills more the heart. And that it is a liberation, a joy perhaps greater than that of 2017. She said it Borja Garcia in Montilivi, after dark, with hardly any voice: “This is a reward for perseverance, for believing, for never giving up and for continuing to fight hard despite the falls. The word resilience should be next to the Girona shield & rdquor ;.



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