Why has the football team owned by Mago Pop made history?
The Catalan artist owns a modest club in Murcia that plays in the Third Division of the RFEF (Spanish Football Federation).
BarcelonaFrom Bahía del Vallés to Broadway. And from there in the province of Murcia. Antonio Díaz Cascajosa, better known as The Magician PopHe is one of Catalonia's most celebrated artists. The illusionist, television presenter, and businessman from the Vallès region—he owns the Victoria Theatre in Barcelona and the Encore in Branson, Missouri—has also owned a football team since 2020: CD Cieza, a modest club from Murcia in the Third Division RFEF, which faces Levante this Wednesday. King's Cup
It will be a historic day for the municipality, the northern gateway to the region and internationally renowned for its peaches, which bloom every spring and offer all visitors a beautiful postcard view with the Atalaya mountain in the background. It is also famous for race walking, as José Antonio Carrillo, one of the best coaches in the history of the discipline and coach of Álvaro Martín, who a few months ago won a gold and a bronze medal at the Paris Olympic Games, lives there.
José Antonio Camacho, former Espanyol coach, was also born in Cieza. And he is the father of Mago Pop, the protagonist of the town's football club's fairytale. His uncle, known as Quevedo, was a footballer and is a legend of CD Cieza, and his cousin, named Antonio Díaz like him, is the current president.
A long-term project
When Antonio Díaz took over, he convinced the illusionist to acquire the club and invest with the goal of promoting it to the Second Division RFEF, although the magician has stated on occasion that he would like to see it in the Second or First Division. That was five years ago, during which time Cieza has risen from the Regional Preferente league to the Third Division RFEF. Currently, given its budget and population—the city has 35,000 inhabitants—it is the main favorite for promotion and occupies the top positions in the standings. However, it hasn't overextended itself. "He's put money in, but he hasn't gone crazy or started any revolutions. It's not like when a sheikh arrives, makes money, and then washes his hands of it. This is a long-term project, a ten-year one," explained sources from the municipality.
Due to his professional obligations, the Catalan illusionist, a well-known Barça fan and the club's majority shareholder, doesn't usually attend matches at the Arboleja stadium, which holds 5,500 spectators and provides a very intense atmosphere, nor does he manage the day-to-day operations of an organization with a strong football tradition: an 8-team youth academy with over 400 players.
The board of directors, headed by the magician's cousin, is in the process of converting the club into a public limited sports company to professionalize it, and along the way to establishing the club in the Murcian football elite, they have received the reward of hosting a First Division team in the Copa del Rey after their first appearance in the league.
A good part of the squad, which made history by qualifying for the cup competition 35 years later, wanted to join Rayo Vallecano because Isi Palazón is a resident of the municipality and a former player of the club – he debuted with the first team when he was 15 years old. His coach, the Serbian Ranko Despotović, would have preferred Girona, the team with whom he scored countless goals in the 2010-11 season in the Second Division. Neither. Cieza drew Levante, also from the First Division, who will visit Arboleja this Wednesday – the possibility of playing the match at Real Murcia's Condomina stadium was ruled out – to test the magic of the team led by Mago Pop, who are making history in the Copa del Rey.