American football fights for survival as clubs rebuild amid falling numbers

American football in Malaga is at a crossroads: as the Malaga Corsairs and the Fuengirola Potros face declining squads and financial strain, they nonetheless are striving to keep the sport alive in the province. Both teams train regularly despite not competing this season and both are focused on attracting new players to ensure survival in the medium term.

At Santa Rosalía in the Campanillas area of Malaga city, around fifteen players gather for Malaga Corsairs' weekly session. They know they won't compete this year but they continue out of passion for the sport.

Training starts with stretching and laps then moves into what players call the dreaded circuit of ladders, padded dummies and cones that tests their stamina.

Assistant coach Alejandro Agüera says the physical element is crucial. He says: "Fitness is fundamental for us because four quarters can feel very long. Learning movements when we're tired helps because it pays off later in matches when we can't think anymore and we still need to push ourselves."

After warming up, the squad splits into positional units with linemen in one corner and quarterbacks, receivers and running backs in others.

Head coach Francisco Javier Juárez, known as Ochoa, says this year is decisive. He says: "This year decides the future of the team. We need a plan so people get to know us better. We have to get fifty or sixty players so that twenty-five or thirty stay for the long term. This sport needs money and sacrifice."

He adds that they cannot keep a team alive without competition and that younger recruits must share the same work ethic as veterans.

Quarterback Alberto Cabello, the only remaining player from the club's early years, says Corsairs used to train with more than forty players. He says they have not been able to stage a full eleven-a-side scrimmage for years and last season they struggled even to field nine-a-side units.

That said, Ochoa insists: "Throwing a year away like this gives us a chance to rebuild. People are coming to training and we have to make it fun so they get hooked, but they also need to see the sacrifice, the pain, the sweat and the study this sport demands."

Across the province, the Fuengirola Potros face similar problems. Their training sessions rarely reach ten players as a generational shift forces long-serving veterans to retire. Rising costs and a lack of external support make recruitment difficult, too.

Club president and player José Antonio Molina López urges newcomers to give it a try. He says: "Anyone who wants to try should come along. You need attitude, not a big strong build. We can't let this sport disappear."

Both clubs agree that attracting new players is the only way to keep American football alive in Malaga.