Ángel Torres Sánchez (born 7 May 1952) is a Spanish businessman, owner of

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

since 2002.

Biography

Born in Recas,

province of Toledo Toledo is a province of central Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. It is bordered by the provinces of Madrid, Cuenca, Ciudad Real, Badajoz, Cáceres, and Ávila. Its capital is the city of Toledo. ...

, Torres lost his father to a traffic accident when he was 14, and was orphaned at 18. He moved to Getafe in the Community of Madrid and worked as a mechanic. At

Kelvinator Kelvinator was an American home appliance manufacturer and a line of domestic refrigerators that was the namesake of the company. Although as a company it is now defunct, the name still exists as a brand name owned by Electrolux AB. It takes its ...

, a freezer manufacturer, he lost his job while striking as a member of the Workers' Commissions (CCOO); he was also fired from a factory in Fuenlabrada in solidarity with another employee whose service was terminated. In the 1980s, Torres prospered in construction during a boom in the expansion of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

's commuter towns. He sold his interests in the industry in order to buy bars, bingo halls and nightclubs in one of those towns, Getafe. In 2002, the town's mayor,

Pedro Castro Vázquez Pedro Castro Vázquez (born 12 February 1945) is a former Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) politician. He was the mayor of Getafe in the Community of Madrid from 1983 to 2011, and the president of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and ...

, convinced him to buy the football club

. Upon finishing as runners-up in the

2003–04 Segunda División The 2003–04 Segunda División season saw 22 teams participate in the second flight Spanish league. The teams that were promoted to La Liga were Levante UD, Getafe CF, and CD Numancia. The teams that were relegated to Segunda División B were ...

, Getafe CF achieved promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

for the first time, and by 2023–24 had only spent one season back in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, in 2016–17. The team reached the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

final in

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, and on their European debut in the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Cup, UEFA's second-tier club football tournament. The final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England on 14 May 2008 between Rangers of Scotland and Zenit Saint Pet ...

, losing on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

in the last seconds against

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

after a 4–4 draw. Torres reflected that Bayern president

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the fi ...

"will remember for the rest of his life where Getafe is". In April 2011, it was widely reported that Torres had sold Getafe CF to the Royal Emirates Group, who had announced such news. He clarified that he had visited the company in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, but only to seek sponsorship. In December 2004, Torres suggested that his team play in

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

as an anti-racist gesture, after some of his club's fans racially abused

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

player Samuel Eto'o.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Angel 1952 births Living people People from the Province of Toledo People from Getafe Spanish trade unionists 20th-century Spanish businesspeople 21st-century Spanish businesspeople Getafe CF non-playing staff Spanish football chairmen and investors