An investment in football as an active footballer. David Beckham as a mirror and the United States as a market in evident growth. The Spanish Juan Mata disembarks in the San Diego FC as a partner and faces an adventure in the MLS from the offices.
The MLS faces its final stretch these weeks with the fight for the MLS Cup, which has the West side as conference finalists LA Galaxy and the Seattle Sounders and in the East to Orlando City and the New York Red Bulls.
But those who are no longer in competition, including the Inter Miami of Leo Messi after his failure in the ‘playoff’, they are already preparing the 2025 season, in which the main novelty will be a new rival: San Diego FC.
With Snapdragon Stadium as its home, San Diego FC will be the 30th team in MLS. He already has a coach, the American of Chilean descent Mikey the Thiefand his main figure in the squad, the Mexican Hirving Lozano.
However, last week the Californian team announced another signing, this time for its organizational chart: that of the Spanish footballer Juan Mata as an investment partner of San Diego FC.
“Mata is the first active international soccer player to have an investment in an MLS franchise and joins David Beckham as the second international player to be involved as an investor in an MLS club.“, the group said in a statement.
As part of his landing at the Galaxy in 2007, which marked a before and after in soccer in the US, David Beckham received the option to purchase an MLS expansion team for 25 million of dollars. That clause ended up becoming Inter Miami.
Juan Mata’s aspirations are not so high, but the former player for clubs like Valencia, the Chelsea or the Manchester United He has also seen the potential that soccer has in the country of the stars and stripes, which in 2026 will organize the World Cup along with Mexico and Canada.
The resurgence of San Diego
“Joining San Diego FC as an investment partner is an exciting opportunity to help build something truly special in a city and league that are experiencing incredible growth.e,” said Juan Mata.
The midfielder, 36 years and now he plays in the Western Sydney Wanderers after passing through Galatasaray and the Vissel Kobethus making reference to a city like San Diego whose weight in the US does not seem to have a proportionate reflection in sports.
According to the United States Census Bureau, San Diego is the eighth most populous city in the country with 1,388,320 people. By county, San Diego is the fifth with the most inhabitants with 3,269,973.
However, this Californian city currently only has one team in the major men’s leagues in the US: the San Diego Padres of the MLB.
They lost the NFL when the Chargers moved to Los Angeles. The NBA also left San Diego for the mecca of Hollywood with the departure of the Clippers and with the move of the Rockets to Houston.
Even more striking is the shortage of top-level equipment in San Diego if you take into account that, just across the border with Mexico, is Tijuana, which has 2,157,853 inhabitants according to the latest Mexican census (2020) and with the which practically forms a binational megalopolis.
Into this panorama comes San Diego FC, whose main owners are businessman Mohamed Mansour and the native Sycuan Tribe of the Kumeyaay Nation and which joins the San Diego Wave, founded in 2022 in the NWSL (the US women’s league). .), to enhance the passion for football in the city.
“We are absolutely delighted that Juan Mata has joined the club as an investment partner“said Mansour, who stressed that the social aspect of the player has also been fundamental in this union.
In this sense, Juan Mata founded Common Goal, an initiative for the football community to donate at least 1% of its income to social causes. Common Goal is also a partner of Right to Dream, of which San Diego FC is a member and which is a group of youth academies and soccer clubs from around the world.
“This club and Right to Dream’s commitment to community impact, excellence, and a vision for long-term success aligns perfectly with my own values. I hope to contribute my experience and passion for this sport and work alongside the entire team to build a club that inspires both on and off the field.“Mata argued.
For his part, Mansour emphasized that Juan Mata shares his “values of wanting to use football to generate social impact and long-term change“.
This is not Juan Mata’s first business foray into sports since he is also an investor in Formula 1 through the team. Alpine through the Otro Capital investment fund.
But with San Diego FC, Juan Mata has consolidated his double dimension in football: that of the player on the pitch and that of the businessman in the offices.
