Liga

The Day of the Peñas is a day designed for all peñistas to come to the stadium and celebrate that we are one red-and-white family. Unfortunately, the sanction imposed a few days ago by Atlético de Madrid on the members of the animation section dampened the festive atmosphere compared to previous years. Many members who had nothing to do with the throwing of lighters during the last derby were unable to enter. Not only that, but they now face a ban from traveling to matches for five games, even though some had already booked flights and hotels.

Today, March 8th, International Women’s Day, we celebrate, among other things, that women can enjoy football with total normality. Not many years ago this was considered odd, that a woman liked football was something “unfeminine”, for “machos”.

We have come a long way, and there is still a long way to go. We as fans notice it in many aspects, for example when we go to a stadium and among the security guards at the entrance controls, eight are men and only three are women. And this is just one example.

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.

April 26th was an important day for Club Atlético de Madrid as it celebrated its 120th anniversary. For the Peña Atlética de Alemania, it will also be a day to remember as we became an official fan club on that day. It was not a coincidence: we thought it was the perfect day to start our official status and Atlético de Madrid helped us make it happen. The day before, I was surprised by a phone call that at first I took as a joke: as the president of the fan club, they invited me to watch the match against Mallorca from the VIP box, and hinted at a surprise that they wanted to keep secret. I gladly accepted the invitation and tried not to get nervous.