At this point it is not surprising that Mexico, like almost any other country in the world, has followers of Real Madrid or Barça. What is surprising is that there are followers of other, less universal LaLiga clubs. Above all, as its budget or its social mass is reduced.
Discovering that in Mexico there are supporters clubs from Sevilla, Valencia, Celta, Oviedo, Sporting de Gijón or Racing Santander is almost a kind of What if…?, Like in the golden age of Marvel.
So we’ve gone to Mexico City to find out why.
From Spanish descent to love at first sight
At a meal together with LaLiga spokespersons we sat down with supporters of the aforementioned teams. Those from Real Madrid or Barça are not too mysterious: they are expatriates who arrived in Mexico at some point in the last decade and decided to establish a supporters club for their club.
Both for socializing around his team and meeting like-minded fans, and for a cultural factor explained by Alejandro Aybar, the founder of the Peña Madridista in Mexico City: “In Mexico the culture that we have in Spain of going to the bar to watch a game does not exist. The usual thing is to get together to see him in a house”. And so he created his rock, which already has 180 members.
Almost the same as the Peña Blaugrana Ciutat de Méxic, founded by Jaume Sués, which has 155 members. “We founded the club in 2015 to meet the people of Barcelona in Mexico”, he explains.
But the interesting thing comes with the smallest teams, who have not yet developed their internationalization strategy, or are working on it. Those who have more limited social masses to their cities, not to the rest of Spain. How to think about the rest of the world.
The most common answer, but not only that, It has to do with family ties by descent. Mexicans of Asturian or Galician parents that despite spending their entire lives in Mexico, they maintain their roots with their origins.
“I was born in Galicia, but they brought me as a child and I’ve been here all my life,” says José Manuel Calvo with a very strong Mexican accent. “In the Celtic club we are 216 members, born from the Centro de Gallego”, he says in reference to the association that serves as a meeting point for Galician immigrants and children of Galicians.
Diego Álvarez was born in Mexico, but his parents are from Asturias, and between that and summer visits to Spain, he developed a passion for Sporting that led him to create his club there, La Villa de Quini. A rock that goes by 70 members.
Peña La Villa de Quini. Courtesy image.
A similar story tells José Palacio, who created the Oviedista supporters club nine years ago due to the rivalry with Sporting as motivation. “At first I was going to call him Chepo de la Torre [un exfutbolista del Oviedo y de varios equipos mexicanos], because it is customary to name him after a former player, but many years ago I scored many goals and they told me that I looked like Isidro Lángara. Investigating, I saw that he was a great player for both Oviedo and the Mexican league, and no Oviedo supporters club is called that. So we decided to put his name on it.”
Members of the Oviedista supporters club following a match at the La Aceituna bar in Polanco (Mexico City). Courtesy image.
Now, that rock brings together 200 members who come to watch their club’s matches. They throw a special party when he arrives the day of the Asturian derby. In the last one, he came to occupy the cover of the regional newspaper Trade, who dedicated a news item to them.
Sportinguistas and Oviedistas supporters celebrating together the Asturian derby in Mexico City. Courtesy image.
Along the same lines is Gerardo Oria Porrua, who created the rock of the Santander Racing in Mexico City. His link with Santander is in his parents, Cantabrians. It is the most recent creation, and although it is still finishing its definition, it has a group of 120 followers interested in forming the club. The president of Racing, Alfredo Pérez, went to the city to deliver some gifts to these fans from a distance.
There are 80 members in the Valencia supporters club, 15 of whom are from Valencia. The rest, Mexicans. Like Álex, one of its members. “I started to like Valencia when they reached the two Champions League finals in a row, that gave their name a lot of strength. When he played against Madrid, everyone supported Madrid, so I decided that I would go with ValenciaI liked it because it was the smaller of the two. The following year, against Bayern, the same. And the following year he won LaLiga, and I thought that I had definitely already joined Valencia ”.
Peña Valencianista from Mexico City. Courtesy image.
There is a similar story that explains the seed of the Sevilla supporters club in Mexico City, the Sí o Sí supporters club. Arturo Sánchez was watching a match that Sevilla played against Real Madrid in 2003. The Nervión club beat Madrid 4-1 of the galactics “I thought that a club that was capable of scoring four goals against such a great team had something to do with it”.
He began to follow Sevilla as he could in Mexico at the beginning of the century. It was very difficult to watch a game live, and even find out what the club is up to date. “A weekly was published on Tuesdays that gave information about LaLiga. I had to wait until Tuesday to find out how Sevilla had been on Saturday or Sunday. Then they won UEFA, and then the Antonio Puerta thing happened, and that’s how I ended up becoming a Sevilla player”. Arturo has never visited Sánchez Pizjuán, but he has the Sevilla shield tattooed on his leg.
Members of the Peña Sevillista Sí es Sí at the Cibeles fountain located in Mexico City. On the right, holding a flag, Arturo. Courtesy image.
“Chicharito, Tecatito… we’ve had some Mexican soccer players at the club, but Sevilla hasn’t really exploded here yet.” In his rock there are literally four Mexicans by birth, as he explains. “I spent fourteen years without being able to share a Sevilla match with anyone.” Living in a minority forges personality.
Other reasons indicated by supporters for opting for a Spanish team, being Mexican, and which are not even the two largest, also have to do with the incorporation of players from the country, who even after leaving leave the residue of supporting the club. Or without necessarily being from the country. Álex was also marked by the arrival of Pablo Aimar at Valencia before feeling fully identified as a Valencian fan. Arturo shows off his Kanouté shirt.
Featured Image | Javier Lacort.
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