"Team-Ibai&Co" coach, Cristobal Soria, gives some instructions before the match of the CUPRA Next Gen Cup event at Camp Nou on June 01, 2022 in Barcelona (Photo by Cesc Maymo/Getty Images)
“Sevilla, tú eres mi amante. Misteriosa reina mora, tan flamenca y elegante. Sevilla enamora al mundo por su manera de ser, por su calor, por sus ferias, Sevilla tuvo que ser. Sevilla tiene un color especial, Sevilla sigue teniendo su duende, y me sigue oliendo a azahar. Me gusta estar con su gente.”
“Sevilla, you are my lover. Mysterious Moorish queen, so flamenco and elegant. Sevilla enchants the world. For its way of being, its heat, its carnivals, it had to be Sevilla. Sevilla has a special color, it continues to have its special charm, and I keep smelling its orange blossoms. I like to be with its people.”
The words of Los Del Río’s 1991 hit “Sevilla tiene un color especial” still resonate today with the 700,000 people that inhabit Sevilla and the 3 million tourists that visit Sevilla each year. Anyone who steps into the Andalusian city is immediately bewitched by a magical spell that is impossible to shake off. Blending ancient and modern, Sevilla’s remarkable architecture reflects a city that has been ruled by various empires from the Moors to the Romans, with its Real Alcázar de Sevilla, Catedral de Sevilla, and Barrio Santa Cruz reflecting its Muslim, Christian, and Jewish history. Anyone who traverses Sevilla’s cobblestone streets will find a town bustling with vibrant festivals and exuberant residents who are all too happy to share their city’s glamour with visitors. It is a coruscating kaleidoscope of colors and scents, where the shimmering lights bounce off the reflection of the Guadalquivir River, where rich aromas of jasmine and orange trees bombard the nostrils of its pedestrians, where flamenco dancers contort their bodies and follow the soothing rhapsody of guitars and castanets, and where refreshing sips of sangría and tantalizing bites of jamón and tapas are available at a moment’s notice.
It’s why Cristobal Soria has no desire whatsoever to leave his hometown – even if it means committing to a daily supercommute. A regular panelist on the biggest sports show in Spain – El Chiringuito de Jugones – which is broadcast from Sunday to Thursday from midnight to 2:45 a.m. on the Spanish channel Mega, Soria has made a habit of not getting to bed until 2 a.m. at the earliest. Every night, after the recording is finished, Soria will hitch a ride across Madrid and sleep at a hotel, before waking up and boarding a train to Sevilla, where he’ll eat, work out at the gym, and see his wife Ana Fernández, whom he married in 2017. He’ll also uphold his fatherly duties by picking up his son (3) and daughter (5) from school and dropping them off at their various extracurricular activities, be that English class, football class, swimming class, or rhythmic gymnastics class.
“There isn’t a more marvelous city than Sevilla to live in,” stated Soria in an exclusive RG interview. “I work in Madrid and live in Sevilla, and in order to do so, I take a 2.5-hour train ride every single day. It’s tough, but I prefer that to taking my family to live in Madrid. Apart from its great weather and the fact that all of my family, my wife’s family, and my children’s friends are here, Sevilla is a city that’s big enough not to get bored in and small enough not to get lost in.”
Earning his Stripes as a Referee and Delegate
Born on July 3, 1969, Soria was inculcated in the values of supporting Sevilla Fútbol Club by his father. He’d watch every single Sevilla match either on television or at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, and whenever Sevilla lost, he wouldn’t be able to sleep or eat dinner – all he could think about was his team’s defeat. But whilst Soria grew up dreaming of playing for Sevilla, he never came close to pursuing those ambitions due to his lack of physical and technical attributes. However, this didn’t stop him from staying involved in football: instead, Soria chose to work as a referee in the Spanish third tier, gaining a newfound appreciation for fútbol and establishing a foothold in the industry.
He also worked as the sales representative in Andalusia for Kelme, a Spanish company that manufactures sportswear and athletic shoes and that sponsored second-tier side Recreativo de Huelva. Thanks to both of his careers, Soria integrated himself with Recreativo manager Joaquín Caparrós, who eventually suggested that Recreativo appoint him as their club delegate. After 14 years of refereeing, Soria was trading in the whistle and the yellow and red cards for a suit and tie.
“Joaquín Caparrós was the person who decided to take a chance on me.
He’s the person who threw his arm around me and taught me absolutely everything, after which, I developed my persona. He was the person who put the first of many stones to become what Cristobal Soria is for many people.”
Caparrós left Recreativo in 1999 before taking charge of Sevilla in May 2000, where he spent five years at the helm. He has since returned for various chapters as interim coach, with the now 69-year-old manager taking charge for a fourth spell on April 13. One of Caparrós’ first actions as Sevilla manager was to appoint Soria as their new club delegate.
“When the referee comes to a football pitch, the person who greets them is the team delegate. They’re the hands and feet of the referee, the nexus of this union between the referee and the two teams. It’s normal that when a referee arrives on the pitch, he finds a person to communicate with, and speaking the same language as them normally helps things a little more, and it’s no coincidence that the delegates of teams like Real Madrid, Getafe, and Deportivo de la Coruña have previous refereeing experience.”
“My experience as a referee helped me a lot as a delegate because I perfectly understood what was going through the refs’ heads, I knew how to manage these conversations and moments with them. It helped me speak the same language as referees. The referee knew that I was one of them in a previous time, which always allowed me to have fluid communication with them.”
Leading Sevilla to the Promised Land
Similar to Frans Hoek and goalkeeper coaches, Soria helped mark a before and after in his profession. Before, many Spanish clubs would give the matchday delegate position to just about any random applicant, but after witnessing Soria’s impact in Sevilla, the delegate has become one of the most important figures of any football match. They are responsible for representing their club, speaking to the referees, and managing the behavior of its club members and fans. All in all, they are tasked with addressing any potential problems that may arise during the 90+ minutes and ensuring that the match is run as smoothly as possible. Soria wasn’t just a random employee on the sidelines; he was helping to animate Sevilla’s players and doing his best to spearhead them to victory. Such was his influence on his team, that goalkeeper Andrés Palop once remarked that whenever Soria was unavailable, Sevilla would automatically start the match by trailing 0–1.
When Soria arrived at Sevilla in 2000, the Nervionenses were mired in Spain’s second division. Six years later, they had made it all the way to the UEFA Cup (now known as the Europa League) Final in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Sevilla demolished Middlesbrough 4–0 via goals from Luís Fabiano, Frédéric Kanouté, and a brace from Enzo Maresca to secure their maiden intercontinental trophy. Fast-forward to today, and they have amassed seven Europa League trophies (only Real Madrid has won more European silverware). As they basked in the celebrations and rejoiced in their first top-level trophy since the 1947/48 Copa del Rey, Sevilla players took turns hoisting the cup and taking pictures with it. By the time the post-match festivities were over, nobody else wanted to take the trophy back with them. And as such, on the night of Sevilla’s first-ever European championship, the Europa League trophy slept in the bed of Cristobal Soria.
From the Sidelines to the Spotlight
“The first thing I did was blow off steam and release all of the tears that had accumulated from so many years of not winning anything, to let these emotions loose and to remember so many generations of Sevillistas who couldn’t enjoy what I was feeling,” reminisced Soria. “I was tired of watching television and seeing just about any random team reach the podium and celebrate titles. I was tired of seeing this and asking myself, ‘When is this going to happen to me?’ I thought it would never happen to me…instead, Sevilla has won seven European Cups, and in the first two in 2006 and 2007, I was a protagonist. I’m there in the photo of the trophy celebrations…as much as some people would like to take that away from me, you can’t remove me from this picture.”
However, all good things come to an end, and Soria’s Sevilla chapter was no different. After a controversial incident in April 2011 where, whilst Villarreal were chasing a last-second equalizer, several balls flew onto the pitch. When Villarreal players searched for a replacement ball, there was none to be found. Sevilla ended up prevailing 3–2, but their image was severely damaged. Club president José María del Nido needed to refurbish their reputation, and as such, he dismissed Soria in the summer of 2011.
“I’d have liked it to end in another way. I was the victim of an image cleaning that they wanted to do around the president and his administrative team. My head was put on the table, and they sacrificed me in order to achieve.”
Becoming a Media Superstar in El Chiringuito
Soria quickly transitioned into sports media and worked at MARCA TV’s talk show Futboleros, where he was employed between 2011 and 2013, before appearing on Cuatro’s Tiki-Taka program and 13TV’s Energy and La Goleada from 2013 to 2014. In 2014, Soria was hired onto the cast of El Chiringuito, which has quickly emerged as a constant source of entertainment and analysis for viewers in Spain and overseas under the leadership of its host Josep Pedrerol and its various panelists.
“Before, whenever I travelled, I would travel with my team, with 30+ people alongside me. Now, I’d board a plane or high-speed train, look up and see that I’m completely alone with my suitcase… that was the first thing I noticed when I started working in media. And of course, it has that certain compunction where you start to worry about what you might say or what others might think, but as time goes on, you realize that the important thing is having your own personality and way of thinking, and that you don’t have to give anyone explanations.”
Part sports talk show, part soap opera, El Chiringuito thrills its viewers with its no-holds-barred analysis, heated debates, and over-the-top theatrics. To quote the late American sports journalist Grant Wahl, “Part of the show’s appeal is that it’s completely unscripted, and the next 180 minutes contained signature moments of adrenaline-fueled zaniness. With flashing lights, a true-crime-style soundtrack and the word CRISIS filling the screen, Pedrerol led off with the news [that Barcelona had sacked manager Ronald Koeman]. Reporter José Álvarez came on live from Barcelona and analyzed video of Barça president Joan Laporta leaving club headquarters in a car as if it were the Zapruder film. Jota Jordi, a well-connected Barça supporter, left the set to take a source’s call outside, and a portion of the screen showed the entirety of the conversation above the caption. Panelist Quim Domènech reported the news (EXCLUSIVA!) that the club had decided to hire former player Xavi. The sportswriter and rabid Real Madrid fan Tomás Roncero made a triumphant entrance, the dramatic background music almost never stopped, and a lot of people argued in the most theatrical of ways as a cameraman got super close to their faces.”
Renowned for his brash personality and unyielding defense of his own opinions, Soria’s histrionics have seen him draw ire from various Real Madrid supporters and big-name players like Sergio Ramos, and when he goes head-to-head with Roncero on the program, it almost feels more like a wrestling showdown than a sports debate program. However, they’ve also earned him plenty of friends like Lionel Messi, who was the protagonist of Soria’s 2018 book La Biblia.
“I think Leo has written the most golden pages in football history.
For those who love football, he changed our lives. Everyone, at some point in time, has wanted to play football like Messi. I think we will never see a player as marvelous as him in the next 200–250 years. On top of that, I had the blessing of having touched him with my very own hands, to have smelled him, to have kissed him, to have wrapped him up in my arms and chest. What more could a football man like me want? Football has given me a lot more than I could have dreamed of.”
Soria is loved by many and hated by many, but he is never ignored. And at nearly 56 years of age, he continues to grow his reputation and stake his claim as one of the most widely viewed football analysts for Spanish-language audiences.
“El Chiringuito is the best football program in the world. Each person gives his or her opinion, each person has their way of watching football and analyzing this scenario that we’re discussing, and it’s here where that passion surges. If I had to pick just one virtue to explain El Chiringuito’s rise, it would be the passion that our panelists manifest during the show.”
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
