Martin Demichelis appointed new manager of RCD Mallorca

Spanish football club RCD Mallorca presented its new manager on Thursday. He is former Argentine international Martin Demichelis. As the club announced, the 45-year-old coach signed a contract valid until the end of the current season. The agreement also includes an option to extend the cooperation for another campaign. Demichelis replaced Jagoba Arrasate, who was dismissed on Monday after a series of poor results. The team was temporarily led by the reserve team coach, Gustavo Siviero. The new manager faces an extremely difficult task. Mallorca is in the relegation zone of LaLiga, occupying the second-to-last, nineteenth place with just 24 points. They trail the team in seventeenth, the safety spot – Elche – by only one point, but the situation is very tense. Demichelis has 13 matchdays at his disposal to improve the team's form and keep it in Spain's top division. The first test will be Saturday's match against Real Sociedad, which the new manager will observe from the stands before taking direct command of the team during training sessions. RCD Mallorca, a club founded in 1916, has a turbulent history, including the Spanish championship from the 1998/99 season and victory in the country's Super Cup a year later. In recent decades, the team has regularly oscillated between the first and second divisions, experiencing both qualifications for European cups and sudden relegations. The current form crisis and threat of relegation fit into this cycle of instability. For Martin Demichelis, this is a historic step in his managerial career. Until now, he has managed teams outside Europe: Argentine River Plate and Mexican CF Monterrey, where he was dismissed before a year had passed. Previously, he gained experience as the coach of Bayern Munich's reserves. As a player, Demichelis was a well-known defender who played for Spanish clubs Málaga and Espanyol, as well as German Bayern and English Manchester City. His familiarity with the Spanish league from a player's perspective could be a significant asset in his new role. The club's decision to hire Demichelis was influenced, among other things, by his willingness to sign a short-term contract, while other candidates, such as García Pimienta, demanded longer commitments.