:Three months ago, Málaga C.F. looked set to turn into a stunning tale of rags to riches and back to rags, as the club landed itself in financial problems and was even threatened with relegation to the lower ranks of Spanish soccer because of unpaid bills.
Sheik Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani, a member of the ruling family of Qatar, acquired Málaga in 2010, then spent lavishly on new players and even talked about building a new and far larger venue, to be called Qatar Stadium, for a team that finished fourth in La Liga last season. But at the start of this past summer, Sheik Abdullah effectively turned off the financial tap, for reasons that have never been explained.
As a result, Málaga was forced to drop the ambition that it could mount a fresh challenge to the duopoly of Real Madrid and Barcelona for dominance in Spain. Instead, it scrambled to sell valuable players in order to clean up its balance sheet.
Málaga found itself facing financial claims from all sides. In late July, four star players, including the Dutch forward Ruud Van Nistelrooy, accused the club of falling behind in salary payments. Separately, two Spanish clubs — Villarreal and Atlético Osasuna — filed complaints against Málaga over unpaid transfer fees. Finally, the Spanish tax agency called on Málaga to pay €7 million, or $9 million, in back taxes immediately."
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