Sometimes, fan clubs come up with ideas that initially seem utopian, but when the International Union of Fan Clubs (Unión Internacional de Peñas) and Club Atlético de Madrid collaborate, everything becomes easier.

One of these ideas was to shape a project that had been in mind for a while but had never been carried out: a Meeting of European Atlético Fan Clubs. The number of fan clubs representing us beyond national borders is growing, and the goal of this meeting was to give them a voice and visibility, and, above all, to make them feel part of the red-and-white family.

Second-to-last match of the Champions League group stage, and it was Feyenoord from Rotterdam’s turn. Back in August, when the draw was made and Feyenoord came up, I thought this would be a good trip. I had been to the Netherlands before, sure, but never to Rotterdam.

Said and done. The three of us, Javi, Edu, and me, were on our way, and as always, I had the longest journey. It’s the drawback of living in Paradise. The journey started on Friday after work, with a stop in Madrid to catch my Atleti in the league against Mallorca. Javi, who lives in Germany near the Dutch border, was driving, and Edu was flying from Barcelona to Amsterdam. I decided to fly to Germany and go by car with Javi.

Our Peña is becoming more and more famous, which is why our president received an invitation from Netflix a few days ago to participate in a documentary about Atlético de Madrid. We couldn’t miss this opportunity, so after consulting the members present in Madrid, we decided to participate without hesitation.

The date was Sunday, October 28th. We met around noon at Plaza Callao. The Netflix staff first collected personal information and had us sign a privacy consent form. Then, we all introduced ourselves. In total, there were about 20 people, including 7 members of our Peña. There were also people from Spain, Germany, Colombia, Venezuela, and even the Cuban president of the Peña.

At last, the day had arrived!

This time, the meeting was in Glasgow, and it was the first major trip organized by our new supporters’ club. A good number of members decided to attend a match that was expected to be historic: it marked the 50th anniversary of the famous “Battle of Glasgow.” Our flight departed very early from Cologne to Edinburgh. There, we met up with Rubén and Maribel, who did land from Madrid two hours later. To make the transportation easier, we decided to rent a car, and the four of us set off for Glasgow, arriving around 2 in the afternoon.

We had known for some time about the celebration of the III International Congress of Atlético Madrid Peñas in Badajoz. Our president headed there to collaborate in the organization of the event and, above all, to represent our Peña. The event was organized by the International Union of Peñas under the sponsorship of Cívitas and took place on the 14th and 15th of October.

On Friday, we traveled there to begin organizing everything. Alonso, from the Badajoz-based Peña “Tos por igual,” generously offered his restaurant for a meal for those of us arriving and, in the evening, for an informal dinner that turned out to be a great success. The most festive among us ended the night in one of the city’s trendy venues, while others went straight to the hotel, as the next day promised to be a long one. On Saturday morning, we started distributing accreditations to those arriving at the Río and NH hotels. Welcome bags were prepared for the attendees, containing small tokens of welcome, and it was a pleasure to get to know the different members of the Peñas and reunite with those we already knew.