From the Reality Studio to the Pitch: Aleks Petrovic Makes Mallorca His Base

From the Reality Studio to the Pitch: Aleks Petrovic Makes Mallorca His Base

The 35-year-old entrepreneur, author and martial artist leaves Dubai to explore new football paths on the island with a German club

Saturday morning in Pla de Na Tesa: the bakery smells of fresh ensaimada, a delivery van rumbles down the country road, and on the small square a boy kicks a PET bottle barefoot. This is exactly where Aleks Petrovic wants to get to work now. The 35-year-old Serbian, who grew up in Germany, made headlines in recent years through Love, Sun, Camera: New TV Dating Show Seeks Mallorca Expats, but his new role is different: manager and co-founder of FC Germania Mallorca.

Petrovic brings unusual ingredients: a technical background, experience as a martial artist, a book about masculinity and a fondness for media staging. Together with three partners — including a well-known former professional and two entrepreneurs — he founded the club and registered a company on the island. The goal is ambitious: to lead the club from the lowest league into higher ranks in the long term. Whether it will reach the very top in the end remains open. What matters now is the step from planning to practice.

Concretely, this looks like: players are not only signed but also accommodated on the island. An online selection campaign brought hundreds, then thousands of applications in a short time. The club relies on visibility — according to its own information, the project already reaches a large audience in Germany via social media (YouTuber Moves to the Land of the Sun: A German Makes Mallorca His New Home) — and wants to give young talents a second chance. For the island this means: more life at small sports facilities, new faces in village cafés and additional spectators at the weekends.

Financially, the entry is not without cost. The founders speak of an initial investment that runs into the high six figures. Instead of early large investors, they rely on their own funds and local sponsorship. The main sponsor is from the island, and the management emphasizes that they seek closeness to the Mallorcan population: Spanish posts on social media, club players from the region and a willingness to cooperate with local clubs and neighbors.

For Mallorca this is not just another club on the calendar. It is a project that can create value on several levels: youth players who stay instead of moving away, additional jobs for coaches, physios and logistics, and an intensification of amateur football in areas that otherwise rarely get into the spotlight. Tangibly: more people in bars on Sundays, more orders in bakeries and a new weekend routine for families.

Petrovic himself has drawn clear boundaries: he wants to leave the noisy side of his television days behind. He plans to document the club's development on film, but not as a tabloid show. The project should show how a club is built from the bottom up — with honest moments, not staged conflicts. His approach resembles the mood you feel on a mild Mallorcan day: less flashbulbs, more supper on the plaça.

The reaction on site has so far been consistently open. Local sponsors and even a waiter from the village, who now has a chance at the squad, show that sport and neighborhood can be linked. Tough encounters on the pitch? Yes, once or twice play was hard, that belongs to amateur sport. Otherwise many observe how quickly a mix of international teammates and local forces can settle in.

Why is this good news for Mallorca? Because it builds bridges: between tourism bustle and everyday life, between young ambitious players and an island that benefits from practical solutions. It's not just about headlines, but about training times, bus rides to away games and the simple joy that people are back in the stands at 4 p.m. on Sundays.

The outlook is open and a bit optimistic. The club wants to grow, the founders want to keep control over development and involve the community. Whoever in the neighborhood hears the ball being played again in the morning notices: football really does connect. And if a former reality show participant stands on the sideline in the future (for example Paul Janke appears in TV dating show as bartender — and Mallorca is pleased), Mallorca will have another story about doing — not just watching.

If Petrovic truly relocates his center of life to the island and the camera follows the build-up, a regional project could become an example of how, with perseverance, local partners and a bit of media know-how, something new can emerge. For the plaça in Pla de Na Tesa this initially means: more voices, more jerseys and maybe soon another communal celebration after the next home game.