There are three things that excite Fabrice Pastor especially. Padel, the city of Seville and Seville. Businessman born in 1971 and belonging to one of the most important and wealthy families in Monaco, his career alternates between the world of construction, paddle tennis and football. His father, Michel Pastor, was the president of Monaco that reached the Champions League final in 2004 after eliminating Madrid in the quarterfinals. The Madrid of Ronaldo, Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Raúl or David Beckham. He is the owner of the A1 Pádel professional circuit, which has recently organized the Seville Master. A global idea that was conceived three years ago in Mexico and that now has as partners, among others, Yankee Global Enterprises, the company that owns the New York Yankees baseball team. There are those who claim to own more than 3,000 apartments in the capital of Andalusia alone, where he resides and where he has decided to undertake a new project: becoming a shareholder in Seville. All this while touring cities around the world in competition with Nasser Al-Khelaifi, owner of PSG, for control of world padel, divided into two large circuits.
“I fell in love with Seville 31 years ago, when I visited it for the April Fair. Seville needs love. You have to love it more and in a different way. It is a small Rome, it has everything,” Pastor explains in impeccable Spanish. However, his face hardens somewhat when the name of Nasser Al-Khelaifi is put before him. “His attitude seems unintelligent and unresponsible to me. I gave twelve months to be able to sit down and fix the division of the world of paddle tennis. It is a responsibility that we have with our fans,” he clarifies. “And regarding his management in the world of football, I always think about what happened in the Madrid locker room with PSG in a Champions League match to define what kind of person he is. It was dramatic. He came in with his sports director to tell everyone that he was going to cut off their heads. They have spent 16,000 million euros and have not won the Champions League. A good manager in the world of football is Florentino Pérez,” asserts Pastor, who was a member of the paddle tennis club where José María Aznar, then president of the Government, played and made this sport known to the general public.
“I want to achieve the single circuit and be the Bernie Ecclestone of padel. I have no doubt that I will achieve it. In three years we have achieved something incredible and I have the support of television stations and important companies,” he openly admits in the padel store he has in Seville. Pastor likes challenges. His company managed, among other things, to steal seven hectares of land from the sea in Monaco for construction. And some of these challenges go beyond business and touch on certain sentimental aspects. He was a paddle tennis player and now has a world circuit of this sport. Love Seville and participate in all its traditions, such as Holy Week and the Fair. And he also loves Sevilla FC.
“Yes, I plan to become a shareholder in Sevilla, but it is not the time yet. I couldn’t be president because I don’t live in Spain and fiscally I don’t reside here, but I would come in strong to take control of the club. I have enormous respect for Sevilla and, above all, for the fans. You have to do things well,” Pastor clarifies. Sevilla’s shareholding situation is a volcano. The president, José María del Nido Carrasco, maintains an all-out war with José María del Nido Benavente, his father and largest shareholder of an entity dominated by three large shareholders (Sevillistas de Nervión, Carrión family and Del Nido family) who maintain an agreement to the governance of Sevilla that Del Nido Sr. does not respect. Curiously, both the son and the father saw Pastor during the Seville Paddle Master’s celebration. The businessman, respectful, does not reveal anything. However, conversations for a possible sale of Sevilla have occurred. With the Del Nido family and with the rest of the major shareholders.
“Sevilla needs a work project. That takes time. I believe that the current president, young and with ideas, needs that time. And I also believe that Sevilla’s managers want to sell their shares,” he clarifies, well versed in the entity’s shareholding situation. His medium-term plan would be to take control of the entity and place someone he trusts in charge. “Sevillismo sees tranquility in me. We have to work well for Sevilla to return to what it was not long ago, one of the best clubs in Europe. The current war benefits no one, everyone loses and bad behavior is observed in the box and at shareholder meetings. I am convinced that Sevilla, with work, time and a good project, can rub shoulders with Madrid and Barcelona to win the League,” he clarifies.
Sources consulted by this newspaper highlight that Pastor’s idea is to become a shareholder in Sevilla in a year, while the waters in the club calm down. A time also in which he hopes to further consolidate his world paddle circuit. In his mind, a well-structured Sevilla is drawn with names such as those of Marcelo Gallardo, a coach for whom Pastor feels a predilection. He is also very aware of the management that his father did with Monaco. “We have gone 11 games without losing. We are having a great season,” admits this billionaire businessman who also has a close relationship with the Royal House of Monaco. “Our Monte Carlo Padel Master will have a princely box, so I will have to ask Alberto for permission to be in the box of my tournament,” jokes Pastor, who was awarded in Seville last Thursday as the best businessman in the world. year by the Mercantile Circle of the capital of Andalusia. And Seville hurts him. “It can’t be that when I land in Malaga I feel like I’m landing in New York and when I land in Seville it reminds me of Africa. We must improve the airport in the capital of Andalusia,” he proclaims.
