We cannot be comfortable with the idea of suffering
En el cruce entre la ciencia de datos y el alma del fútbol, el matemático argentino Sebastián Ceria devolvió al Racing de Santander a la élite española tras catorce años de ausencia, no mediante golpes de suerte ni desembolsos desmedidos, sino a través de una filosofía que combina rigor analítico, gestión profesional y la convicción de que el sufrimiento no debe ser una identidad. Su historia plantea una pregunta más amplia sobre cómo las instituciones humanas —deportivas o no— pueden renovarse cuando alguien se atreve a sustituir la resignación por método y esperanza.
- Un club históricamente deficitario y atrapado en una cultura de resignación necesitaba algo más que dinero: necesitaba una forma distinta de pensar.
- Ceria irrumpió con modelos propietarios de datos, metodologías de entrenamiento digitalizadas y un seguimiento milimétrico del rendimiento individual que chocó con los usos tradicionales del fútbol español.
- La tensión entre la lógica empresarial y la identidad emocional del club se resolvió apostando por ambas a la vez, rechazando la falsa dicotomía entre negocio y pasión.
- Los ingresos por merchandising se multiplicaron por casi seis, el déficit crónico desapareció y el ascenso a La Liga convirtió la promesa en evidencia.
- El Racing planea ahora fichajes ambiciosos, ampliar el estadio a 30.000 asientos y construir una nueva ciudad deportiva, con Ceria declarando que no tiene ningún plan de salida.
Sebastián Ceria camina hoy por Santander y los desconocidos le piden fotos. Le llaman Sebas con la familiaridad de quienes llevaban mucho tiempo esperando que alguien creyera en ellos.
El matemático argentino tomó el control del Racing como accionista mayoritario en 2024. Tres temporadas después, el club regresó a Primera División por primera vez en catorce años. Ceria no habla de magia, sino de filosofía: la unión de datos, gestión profesional y la negativa a aceptar el sufrimiento como destino. «No podemos estar cómodos con la idea de sufrir», dice. «Tenemos que creer en nosotros mismos».
Nacido en Buenos Aires en 1965, Ceria emigró a Estados Unidos con una beca en 1988, construyó una carrera académica y empresarial, y vendió su compañía de análisis de datos en 2019 por 850 millones de dólares. Instalado en Santander, ciudad de su mujer, encontró en el Racing un proyecto donde confluían su pasado técnico y su convicción de que el fútbol es negocio, deporte y pasión al mismo tiempo, sin que ninguna dimensión deba anular a las demás.
En la gestión del club impuso estructuras profesionales: personas competentes en los puestos de decisión, fronteras claras entre el despacho y el vestuario, respeto por la especialización en marketing, operaciones y finanzas. El único terreno donde intervino directamente fue el análisis de datos. Su equipo construyó un modelo propio para detectar jugadores infravalorados —como el portero sueco Simon Eriksson, contratado hasta 2030— y digitalizó la metodología de juego analizando millones de secuencias del fútbol europeo. Cada detalle del rendimiento individual, desde la nutrición hasta el sueño, quedó registrado y medido.
La transformación financiera fue igual de rotunda. Los ingresos por merchandising pasaron de 700.000 euros a casi cuatro millones. El déficit crónico desapareció. Y con el ascenso, esos ingresos volverán a crecer.
De cara al futuro, Ceria habla de fichajes importantes, de la posible vuelta de Sergio Canales —el exjugador del Real Madrid que milita ahora en México—, de un estadio ampliado a 30.000 localidades y de una nueva ciudad deportiva. No tiene estrategia de salida. Un aficionado se le acercó en el aeropuerto de Málaga tras el último partido y le dijo simplemente: «Ahora creemos en tus palabras». Esa responsabilidad, sugiere Ceria, no se abandona.
Sebastián Ceria walks through the streets of Santander now and strangers stop him for photographs. In the Cantabrian house in Madrid, they ask for his autograph in the book of honor. They call him Sebas with the ease of people who have been waiting a long time for someone to believe in them.
The Argentine mathematician took control of Racing Santander as majority shareholder in 2024. Three seasons later, the club climbed back to Spain's top division for the first time in fourteen years. He describes the ascent not as magic but as the product of a deliberate philosophy: the marriage of data, professional management, and what he calls the need to stop accepting suffering as inevitable. "We cannot be comfortable with the idea of suffering," he says. "We have to believe in ourselves."
Ceria was born in Buenos Aires in 1965, trained in mathematics, and emigrated to the United States on a scholarship in 1988. He built a career first in academia, then in business—founding a company that used data analysis to guide investment decisions. He sold it in 2019 for 850 million dollars. By then he had moved to Santander, where his wife is from, and was ready for something different. The Racing project began as a collaboration with club president Manolo Higuera, rooted in Ceria's belief that football is not purely business, not purely sport, not purely passion, but the fusion of all three.
He arrived with a message of altruistic optimism. "Football has the power to make people happy," he says, "and that is what we propose." But he also brought the discipline of his corporate past. He insisted on professional management structures: competent people placed in decision-making roles, clear boundaries between the president's office and the pitch, respect for expertise in marketing, operations, finance. In football, he observed, these basic practices are often ignored.
The one area where he allowed himself to intervene directly was data analysis. His team built a proprietary model to identify undervalued players—like Swedish goalkeeper Simon Eriksson, signed through 2030. They digitized Racing's playing methodology by analyzing millions of sequences across European football, identifying the most effective patterns and standardizing both individual and collective training exercises. They tracked each player's nutrition, psychology, sleep, the granular details that separate a goal from a miss by millimeters.
The financial transformation was equally stark. The club had burned money for years. Under Ceria's ownership, merchandise revenue climbed from 700,000 euros to nearly four million. The deficit disappeared. "The club no longer hemorrhages money because we increased income significantly," he says. "Now those revenues will grow again because of the promotion."
Looking forward, Ceria speaks of major signings and the possibility of bringing home Sergio Canales, the 35-year-old former Real Madrid player now in Mexico, a kind of prodigal son return. He envisions a stadium expanded to 30,000 seats and a new training facility. He has no exit strategy, he says—no plan to sell and move on. A fan approached him at Málaga airport after the final match and said simply: "Now we believe in your words." That responsibility, Ceria suggests, is not something you walk away from.
"Those who approach football from a purely commercial perspective are making a mistake," he says. "The power of football is everything around it, and that generates a healthier, better business in the long term." For a club that spent fourteen years outside the top flight, waiting for someone to believe, the mathematics of hope have finally worked out.
Notable Quotes
Football has the power to make people happy, and that is what we propose— Sebastián Ceria
Those who approach football from a purely commercial perspective are making a mistake. The power of football is everything around it, and that generates a healthier, better business in the long term— Sebastián Ceria
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
When you say you wanted to stop the "sufringuismo," were you diagnosing a real cultural problem at the club, or was that more about psychology—about how the fans saw themselves?
Both. The club had been outside the top division for fourteen years. That's not just a sporting failure; it becomes a story people tell themselves about who they are. I came in saying: this doesn't have to be your identity. We can change the structure, the data, the way we think about recruitment and training. But none of that works if people don't believe it's possible.
You sold a data company for 850 million dollars. Why spend that kind of energy on a football club that was hemorrhaging money?
Because I'd already done the finance thing. I was looking for something with meaning. Football reaches people in a way that spreadsheets never do. When a fan stops you on the street for a photo, that's not about quarterly earnings. That's about collective hope.
The data model—identifying undervalued players, digitizing training—that's not revolutionary in football anymore. Why did it work so well for Racing specifically?
Because we combined it with something else: professional management discipline. Most clubs have either the data or the structure, but not both. We had both. And we applied it consistently, without shortcuts, without the president trying to pick the lineup.
You mention that the difference between a goal and a miss is millimeters. But football isn't just physics. How do you account for the human variables—confidence, momentum, luck?
You're right. That's why we also tracked psychology, nutrition, sleep patterns. You can't reduce a player to a number. But you can understand the conditions that make him more likely to succeed. The millimeter matters, but so does the mind.
What happens now that you're in La Liga? The bigger clubs have more money, more data, more infrastructure.
We're not trying to compete with Real Madrid's budget. We're trying to build something sustainable. The stadium expansion, the new training facility—those are long-term bets. And we're bringing in players who fit the model, not just big names. Sergio Canales would be symbolic, but only if he fits what we're building.
You said you have no exit strategy. That's unusual for someone with your background. Why stay?
Because a fan told me at the airport: "Now we believe in your words." You don't walk away from that. This isn't an investment to me anymore. It's a responsibility.