Every so often, a story that sounds more like a movie script will remind us of how incredible life can be. At around 9pm on Monday night, I wanted to get in touch with Spielberg himself after hearing Francisco ‘Paco’ Zuniga speak about his journey.
On the evening of July 25, the captain of Bruno's Magpies – a pub team formed in 2013 by teenager Louis Perry – will walk out of Gibraltar's Europa Sports Complex to face off against Danish giants FC Copenhagen in a second-round Europa Conference League qualifier.
It has been a whirlwind month for the part-timers, who recently pulled off one of the biggest upsets in UEFA qualifying history after beating League of Ireland Premier Division side Derry City in a game described by many fans as the most significant in their 11-year rise.
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The club’s journey to coming up against a group of players that beat Manchester United in last season's Champions League is the stuff of legend. Strap yourselves in.
Louis Perry, the founder of FC Bruno's Magpies, moved to the southernmost tip of Spain’s south coast when his grandparents decided to buy Bruno's Bar in the district of Ocean Village; a floating community that clusters around a marina.
Shortly after relocating to Gibraltar from Portsmouth, county player Louis was desperate to start playing football again. He attended a trial at second-division side Cannons but after scoring twice from left-back, the 18-year-old was told that the position was already occupied... by the assistant manager.
Having explored every other option, the only solution was a drastic one. He walked into the Gibraltar Football Association's head office to set up a team of his own. With the help of his grandparents, Louis forked out £500 for the first-team and £500 for a reserve team.
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The club was officially born but there was another issue; he needed someone to take charge. After bonding over football with Bruno’s Bar regular Mick Embleton, who had previous experience of managing a team, Louis asked him if he would do the honours.
Embleton, a die-hard Newcastle United fan, agreed to become their first-ever manager under two conditions. One: the club must wear black and white stripes for the foreseeable future and two: they must be named after his beloved Magpies.
In the coming days, Louis and Mick’s recruitment strategy involved asking regulars from Bruno’s Bar who looked ‘relatively’ in shape if they could play football. Some hadn’t kicked a ball in years but eventually, they scraped together a team and organised their first full training session on a local beach.
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Twisted ankles, pulled hamstrings and a plethora of blisters followed but it was a start. "I look back now and laugh that the signing-on fee for the players was a few pints in Bruno's,” Louis told RTE in 2022. “We had all the people who would come into the bar and they made up the majority of the team."
Created for locals who just wanted to enjoy a kickabout, things escalated a hundred times over when Bruno's Magpies entered Gibraltar’s second tier.
Unbeknownst to Louis, the Gibraltar Football Association were close to securing member status with UEFA, which meant teams would be able to play in European competition. It was a huge turning point for the pub team, as prize money and other factors became an attractive perk for overseas players.
Louis and his team started to improve their squad by scouring the UK for young talent who had been released from their contract at professional clubs. Bruno's Magpies acted as a stepping stone and it worked, but they also needed help with wider recruitment, which required more investment.
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Haig Oundjian, the former vice-chairman of Watford, was a client of Louis’ in his day job as an estate agent. After many conversations, Haig agreed to become a minority stakeholder. He invested thousands into the club and reaped the rewards as the Magpies earned promotion to Gibraltar's first division in 2019.
As the team continued to progress, Jansen Dalli was hired as sporting director. "I do a little bit of everything," Dalli tells SPORTbible. "I'm a sporting director but I'm also a kitman and a scout. I'll go out and find sponsorships, too. I do the lot."
Before joining in 2019, Dalli was the sporting director at Mons Calpe; a club in Gibraltar that also relied on scouting talent from around the world. In fact, towards the end of 2016, a scout going by the name of Enrique Cortina discovered a player that would soon become an integral part of Bruno's history.
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Francisco Zuniga, or Paco as he's more commonly known, scored a bullet header in last week's Europa Conference League win over Derry – a moment that would have seemed on the verge of impossible in 2016, when he was working as a taxi driver in the port city of Veracruz, Mexico.
Paco was 24 at the time. He was living with his parents and hadn’t kicked a ball for several years after being released by first-division side Club Deportivo Veracruz as a teenager. "That's why I started working as a taxi driver," he tells us. "My father wouldn't allow a lazy person to stay in the house."
In his own words, Paco was living day to day as his job was sporadic and the pay was low. "I thought my train had already left the station," he says regarding his football career. But before starting a run-of-the-mill Friday shift, he received a phone call that changed everything.
Biagio, a close friend from his neighbourhood in Veracruz, was scheduled to attend a five-day showcase event in Puebla, Mexico, which gave players the opportunity to perform in front of scouts from various professional clubs. On this occasion, it was Seattle Sounders, Toronto FC, CF Pachuca and Mons Calpe.
"He called me and said, 'Paco, I cannot make it. Can you go and say you're me?' and I said, 'Yes, why not'. At that stage of my life, there was nothing to lose. He paid to attend the showcase but I didn't have enough money to get there, so I asked my friends to help out. It was around 500 pesos, which is around £20."
An eight-hour bus journey from Veracruz to Puebla followed. Paco arrived at the showcase location with just enough time to spare. “It was a Saturday," he says. "I remember it perfectly. I was knackered but I had a backpack full of dreams — a pair of dusty football boots and a white t-shirt that I wore for the trial."
Having been questioned by organisers as to why he showed up instead of Biagio, they eventually let him stay; probably out of pity more than anything.
In the stands, meanwhile, Spanish scout Enrique Cortina was trying to find talented players for Gibraltar-based side Mons Calpe and their Brazilian manager, William Andrade.
Andrade had a very specific set of instructions for Cortina. He was desperate to sign a left-footed centre-back. "William didn't care where he was from," recalls former Mons Calpe director Dalli. "And there was one left-footed centre-back who had travelled halfway across Mexico to be there.”
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Paco performed well in the opening stages. In fact, organisers asked him to stay for another three days as scouts from four professional clubs continued to watch from the sidelines. At one stage, though, his future in the process looked uncertain until a kind gesture allowed him to stay.
"I had to ask a player from the trials, who was from Puebla, if I could stay at his house," Paco recalls. "I slept on the couch."
He continues: "At the end of the trials, Enrique Cortina came up to me and said, 'I really like the way you play. I am from Mons Calpe; a team in Gibraltar, and we would like you to sign. We are looking for a centre-back who is left-footed, and is 6ft tall with a European passport.'
"It was such a coincidence that two months before the showcase, I got my Spanish passport because of my father, who is from Osasuna. Everything came together. It was a perfect moment. I asked, 'Where do I sign!'. I contacted Jansen and he made it all possible."
It didn't take long for Paco to gather his possessions ahead of an 18-hour flight. "I had €50 to my name when I arrived in Gibraltar," he remembers. "A lot of people ask me if it was a difficult decision to leave Mexico behind but I always say it was the easiest one. I had nothing and this was a huge opportunity.”
Paco pauses for a few seconds. He looks up to the heavens and smiles before continuing with his story.
“I came to this country with a backpack. Can you believe I brought everything with me and it was in a backpack? A pair of boots, two pairs of shorts and a white t-shirt for training — the same one I wore for the showcase."
In the coming weeks, Jansen and Mons Calpe provided accommodation and food for Paco but it was difficult at first. The eight-hour time difference was a serious issue. He couldn't get to sleep before 4am in the morning and the cold nights took a while to get used to after decades of 40-degree heat.
But eventually, things started to fall into place. He met his soon-to-be wife and she played an instrumental role when it came to learning the English language. "I still practice every day with her," he says, before telling me about his family.
On the pitch, Paco was establishing himself as one of the best defenders in Gibraltar. In fact, three years after joining Mons Calpe in 2017, Paco left to join Bruno's Magpies, who had recently hired Dalli as their sporting director. It was a match made in heaven.
At the time of writing, the former taxi driver is not only close to securing a century of caps for Nathan Rooney's side, but is just six months away from being eligible to play for the Gibraltar national team – a real 'pinch me' moment for the man who wants to give back to a place that’s given him so much.
As we wrap up our lengthy chat ahead of Thursday night's qualifier against FC Copenhagen, a question about another special person comes to mind. It isn’t Jansen Dalli or Enrique Cortina, the scout who gave him a chance all those years ago in Puebla,
“So… what happened to Biagio, the friend who asked you to attend the showcase in his absence?”
Paco smiles again for the umpteenth time. "We're still in touch to this day. He recently called to congratulate me for reaching the Europa Conference League qualifiers. He is so happy for me. He's called Biagio. Everybody needs to know that."
Topics: Denmark, Europa Conference League, UEFA, Spotlight
Jack Kenmare