Football Season Guide

Elche were the 20th and final team to book their ticket to LaLiga for this season, coming up through the second division’s promotion playoffs. These playoffs didn’t finish until August 23rd, so they haven’t had much time to prepare for 2020/21. They will be allowed to postpone their fixtures from the first two matchdays, but it’s still not much time to conduct business. While the transfer activity might have to wait, Elche have already made one big decision and it was a controversial one. They have let coach Pacheta go, even after he secured two promotions in three seasons. Coming in is Argentine Jorge Almiron, whose agent happens to be the club owner. So, he might not necessarily be there for all the right reasons. This Elche side looks to be one of the weakest teams to compete in LaLiga in recent seasons, partly because of the difficult circumstances they face this off-season. They also come up as a team that only just scraped into the promotion playoffs anyway, so the only real advantage on their side is the momentum they might be carrying forward. In terms of weaknesses, they have a new coach with no LaLiga experience, they have lost several members of the promotion-winning squad, they have an ageing squad and they have a tiny budget and little time to prepare.