Sporting Cristal

Officially announced the sale of 100% of its shares to the sports management group Innova Sports, which will take effect on Thursday, September 19. The presentation to the media was held at the institution's headquarters in La Florida, Rímac.

Present at the event were María Julia Sáenz, newly appointed vice president of the Sporting Cristal board of directors, Joel Raffo, founding partner of Innova Sports, and Enrique de la Piedra, general manager of the company. The event was also attended by players Jorge Cazulo and Carlos Lobatón, and coach Manuel Barreto.

"I am pleased to return to what was once my home, Sporting Cristal, where 20 years ago I had the fortune to be part of the youth divisions and where I was coached by the great Alberto Gallardo. Today I am here on behalf of the group I chair, Innova Sports, to make myself available to an institution with a tremendous tradition like Sporting Cristal,"

"This is the initial message from Joel Raffo.

On the subject that generated the most interest among the fans - the name - the executive confirmed that it will not be changed. He added, "We are not here to make structural changes, nor drastic changes. We come to continue with a philosophy, an identity of many years. Our main goal is to position Sporting Cristal as a model club at the regional level. We will not change the name, we come to offer all our experience to this project."

On the other hand, Joel Raffo clarified that there is no conflict of interest with the presence of Carlos Gonzalez in the management group. It is worth mentioning that the former referee heads the agency representing footballers (AGREF).

"There is no conflict of interest, since we have managed our company as a corporate group, which has marked divisions, each of them autonomous and independent, led by different professionals. In addition, we will continue with good corporate governance and strengthen it in such a way that there is no conflict of interest," commented Raffo.

Likewise, the executive stressed that the objective will be to turn Sporting Cristal into a regional model. "We just found out a few hours ago that we were chosen to lead this tremendous institution and we are going to start working, that's what we offer to the fans and the country. We will seek to position Cristal as a model institution at the regional level," he said.