Real Sporting de Gijón

The first LaLiga side, and fourth professional team worldwide, joins Common Goal, pledging 1% to its community and fans

Clubs are nothing without the fans and communities that surround them. But as football – and the money in the game – grow, it’s these people at the heart of the game that are too often left behind. 

Real Sporting de Gijón, one of Spain’s oldest football clubs playing in LaLiga 2, is working to help pioneer a new era in football. Today it becomes the first La Liga club to take the 1% pledge, committing to step up and help tackle the demographic challenge affecting its community.  

Asturias, a region in the Northwest of Spain, is home to Real Sporting de Gijón. It is also the region in Spain that has seen the largest number of inhabitants leave and faces the country’s highest suicide and psychopharmacological drug consumption rate. By joining Common Goal, Real Sporting de Gijón sends a message to its fans: issues affecting the community affect the club. For the La Liga side, there isn’t a separation between club and fans – they are one. 

1% of ticket and sponsorship revenue will go to Real Sporting de Gijón’s initiative ‘Marea Rojiblanca,’ while the side will give employees and first-team players the option to pledge 1% of their salaries as well. The club’s CEO David Guerra has taken the 1% pledge since 2020 and will now be joined by other Real Sporting de Gijón executives Gerardo García, Germán Argüelles and Joaquín Alonso, who holds the record for most games played in club history (646). 

An ode to the club’s red and white identity, ‘Marea Rojiblanca’ will work on driving social and environmental impact and innovation locally by addressing five topics – child rights, gender equity, mental and physical health, climate action, and mental and physical disabilities. It will also weave equality and diversity, and environmental sustainability, throughout its impact. 

"We believe that a football club must have the community, society, and sustainability at its heart,” said Alejandro Irarragorri, Sporting Gijon’s President and Chairman of Orlegi – a group that puts purpose at the centre of business and also owns Liga MX clubs Santos Laguna and Atlas FC. 

“Our strategy on and off the field goes hand in hand, and our incorporation into Common Goal has allowed us to create a meaningful and tailored social and environmental action plan, the Red and White Tide, which is in perfect harmony with the Orlegi Group's DNA of Winning by Serving, while also being part of a global movement with a shared vision for 2030. We believe this is the most effective and impactful combination." 

Real Sporting de Gijón is the fourth professional club to take the 1% pledge, joining the likes of Werder Bremen, who last year became the first Bundesliga club to join Common Goal, FC Nordsjælland, and Oakland Roots. The growing coalition of clubs leads the way in positioning clubs as valuable parts of their communities beyond the pitch. They are helping shift narratives, showing the relationship between fans and clubs can be symbiotic – it is not just up to fans to support clubs but also up to clubs to support fans.