"The toughest challenge of my life!" A former giant is sinking into chaos-and could crash completely before a legend's rescue mission arrives

Early October 2025, Matchday 8: Sevilla had climbed to sixth in LaLiga and were heading in the right direction. Coach Almeyda, who had taken charge the previous summer, was charged with steadily guiding the once-great Spanish side back up the table after two difficult seasons. Despite opening the campaign with two defeats, the Andalusians had collected 13 points from the subsequent six matches, including a resounding win over Barca.

The win owed much to Odysseas Vlachodimos's string of saves and a missed Robert Lewandowski penalty, yet the sense of momentum was genuine. Now, seven months on, that sunny Sunday afternoon feels wistful.

Today, though, the club is mired in a relegation fight. Their current 18th-place standing would mean a bitter drop to the second tier—for the first time in 26 years. Back in 1999/2000, Deportivo La Coruña were Spanish champions, Real Zaragoza finished fourth, and Sevilla's fellow relegated sides were Atlético Madrid and city rivals Betis—proof of how long ago that was.

The club's recent dominance—five Europa League wins between 2014 and 2023, plus five Champions League knockout berths between 2008 and 2021—now looks set to fade, and few would call the slide unexpected. In hindsight, the board might have been wiser to retain Julen Lopetegui for longer in autumn 2022 – he remains the last coach to stay in the job for more than nine months.

Between 2019 and 2022 he guided the club to three consecutive fourth-place finishes and Champions League football, plus the 2020 Europa League triumph—the club's sixth in the competition. Nevertheless, his credit had evaporated, and he was sacked after a disappointing start to the 2022/23 campaign that saw the club 17th after seven matchdays.

Lopetegui's sacking was dramatic and symptomatic of the growing chaos at Sevilla FC. Even before their Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund, reports had surfaced that he would leave, though the club waited until after the 1–4 defeat to BVB to confirm his departure. The fans were visibly shaken, and Lopetegui himself became emotional: "It is sad and painful to leave a team that I love very much and that will undoubtedly always remain in my heart," the 59-year-old told Movistar. He now manages Qatar's national team.

Although the club briefly revived its reputation by winning the 2023 Europa League, the broader slide had already set in. Lopetegui is hardly the sole culprit: in the past three and a half years, seven coaches have failed to secure a lasting upturn.

Sevilla's off-field image has long been tarnished by internal power struggles, notably the rift between current president Jose Maria del Nido Jr. and his father, former club chief Jose Maria del Nido Sr. Yet the club's ongoing crisis is rooted in chronic financial constraints, which mean that sustained success is now unattainable without patience.

This term, hamstrung by financial woes, the club has the second-lowest wage cap in LaLiga; last term it was the lowest across the top two tiers. The squad's quality has suffered as a result, making European ambitions increasingly unrealistic. After splashing out nearly €189m on transfers in 2019/20, the club spent only €250,000 in 2025/26. To compensate, the club has signed veteran free agents like Alexis Sánchez and César Azpilicueta, borrowed Odysseas Vlachodimos, and promoted home-grown talents such as José Ángel Carmona and Isaac Romero. Turning necessity into virtue will require patience—and possibly accepting a major setback.

The threat of relegation is very real: in the 2024/25 campaign, a 2-3 loss at Celta Vigo on matchday 35 left them only four points above the drop zone. Upon returning from the away match, around 400 fans—some masked—confronted the players at the training ground, hurling eggs and stones at the team bus; police intervention was required, and the frightened squad could only return home the following morning.

Relief swept through the club when safety was eventually confirmed. Antonio Cordon was installed as sporting director, and Sevilla then appointed former player Matias Almeyda—who had previously managed only AEK Athens in Europe—as head coach. For the Argentine, it was his first role in one of Europe's top five leagues; previously, he had only managed AEK Athens. After an encouraging start, Almeyda failed to deliver consistent results before the club's golden-era figureheads—Ivan Rakitic, Ever Banega and Lucas Ocampos—departed.

Following their October win over Barça, Sevilla secured only four additional LaLiga victories before coach Almeyda's dismissal at the end of March. The club, once a Champions League regular, now languished in 15th and was in real danger of slipping further. In came Luis García, an experienced Spanish coach with deep LaLiga knowledge. Yet his arrival has failed to stem the slide.

In his first match, early in April, they lost 0-1 at bottom-of-the-table Oviedo. Two weeks later, Sevilla went down 0-2 at second-bottom Levante, although a surprise 2-1 win over Atlético Madrid in between briefly raised hopes. On closer inspection, the result was not that surprising, as Atleti boss Diego Simeone rotated his squad between two Champions League quarter-final clashes with Barcelona, resting nearly all his regulars. No Antoine Griezmann, no Julián Álvarez, no Marcos Llorente, no Giuliano Simeone; Ademola Lookman only entered for the final 20 minutes.

The win was crucial, yet it proved the exception. Two weeks later Sevilla lost 0-2 at second-bottom Levante, and then came the heartbreak against Osasuna: leading 1-0 in the 80th minute, they conceded a late equaliser and, in the ninth minute of stoppage time, a winner. "We are devastated," manager Garcia said after the final whistle. "They're crying, they're deeply hurt," he said, summing up his players' state of mind. Left-back Gabriel Suazo choked back emotion: "I've got a lump in my throat. I'd give my life for this club." Captain Nemanja Gudelj simply echoed, "It hurts, it hurts a lot."

Even before facing Atlético, García had already voiced the club's predicament. "Sevilla is a great club in Spain and in Europe," he said, acknowledging the fans' frustration. Perhaps it is time to admit that the present is no longer as glorious as the recent past.

Sergio Ramos certainly hopes Sevilla will regain that status. The former Real Madrid captain began his career at the Andalusian club and returned for the 2023/24 season. In January, the 40-year-old, who had been without a club since early in the year, tried to orchestrate another comeback at Sevilla—but president Del Nido Jr. blocked the move, arguing that Ramos could not simultaneously be a player and an owner.

The former Spanish international leads an investor group ready to offer nearly €400 million for control of the club, though the deal is not yet done. All parties want to avoid a restart in the second division under one of Sevilla's most famous sons.

"This is the toughest challenge I've ever had to face," Garcia said recently, capturing Sevilla's dire straits. "I don't think I've ever worked harder in my life. I'll give it my all. We're in intensive care, but we can still pull through."