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.

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.

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.

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.

When we were officially born as an Atletico de Madrid Fan Club on April 26, we had a triumphant entrance, through the grand door, and with a red carpet. We only lacked written confirmation, and it arrived on October 8 in a manner just as spectacular as half a year ago, no less than from Don Enrique Cerezo, the President of Club Atletico de Madrid. We departed from Germany the day before, and on Sunday, the day of the Diploma ceremony, we headed to the Metropolitano Stadium, with a little issue involving our Uber driver.