For
For
One year has passed since the announcement of the state of alarm decreed by Pedro Sánchez. Since that March 14, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic has altered the world around us, competitive sport on a global level, and undeniably changed the image of football that we knew. 2020 provided irremediable obstacles to sport, without an instruction book or a tactical board to be able to face them. Thus, football, the fans, but also the employees and those involved who surround the sport of football, and who have always remained in the background, are the protagonists for their adaptability and flexibility of response according to circumstances that were beyond our control.
The coronavirus has emphasized the importance of the stadium public and, of course, of all those who in a less visible way contribute to the ball running and the show can be played with guarantees. Soccer has become a less passionate sport, with silences, without whistles, without encouragement, without shouting, without joys shared with the companion in the seat next to him. But football went on, even if the spectator in the stadium was dispensed with. So that your team will reach your television and so that you can live and vibrate football in the most immersive way possible, the effort, sacrifice and dedication of those employees who surround football have been necessary. Some have been able to survive the changes, others are on the way, while there are also the seriously injured, for whom the situation has caused a change without return, casualties on the trip, business with the blind down and irreparable suffering.
Sometimes it is forgotten, but if football is first class, it is not only because of the players, coaches or managers. Football, neither the old nor the new normal, would exist without these professionals with immaculate work and with less recognition than they deserve on a daily basis. Soccer and what it generates affects thousands of families who live from its effects. Because football is not only football, it is much more … they are too.
Alaves
Jito, a soccer globetrotter, overwhelmed with his bar in Vitoria, who has been forced to adapt to the pandemic with the illusion of, very soon, score a goal against the virus
Jito knows what it is to play with Xavi Hernández and tour Spain in his professional career, wearing the elastic of many teams. In his last years as a professional, he made football compatible with hospitality. Together with his wife Vero, they run the Verode bar, one of the closest to Mendizorroza. His business was frequented on match days by fans, but it is also a meeting point for some players. Despite acclimatizing to the measures imposed for the hospitality industry in the Basque Country and complying with the protocol, the drop in cash income is making the former striker play one of his most complicated games.
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Athletic
The absence of public in the stadiums has affected the stalls of souvenirs and trinkets in the vicinity of San Mamés, but, above all, its star product, the scarf
The pride of showing off your team on the way to San Mamés. The illusion of waving it inside the stadium. The scarf is a star product in the world of football, also affected by the coronavirus. A little help from the state and the savings are the survival kit so far. The professionals of this business regret the absence of public, even more so when Athletic lives a good moment and aspires to lift titles from Marcelino. Among them the possible double in the Copa del Rey, the Basque derby and the match against FC Barcelona in less than 15 days.
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Atlético de Madrid
Margarita and the most famous flowers that do go to football: a tradition to which the door has been opened at the Wanda Metropolitano
Despite playing behind closed doors, the door does open to the entrance of an intact tradition in the mattress set, the Margarita bouquet of flowers, famous throughout the world. For the first home game after the break in March, Koke called Margarita to find out how to arrange her bouquet and continue a tradition that is older than some players on the squad. It all started in 1995-96, that of the Double, Margarita brought four carnations and that day, against Athletic, the rojiblancos scored four goals.
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Barcelona
The pandemic marks the Barcelona elections: neither a day of celebration, nor a family day nor celebrities
The pandemic has changed the scene of an election at the Camp Nou. Neither family day, nor curious, nor famous carpet, nor the achievement of the votes of the undecided. In exchange, masks, hydroalcoholic gel, security measures and partners who stay at home. José Luis Guerra, recently operated and undergoing chemotherapy, had to vote by mail. However, the nearby bars did appreciate the election day, recovering a little of their working life.
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Betis
In a year of unwanted silences, solidarity multiplied at Benito Villamarín thanks to the club and its fans
The Verdiblanco team has lost great personalities within the club this fateful year. The coronavirus deprived them of a sense of recognition. While the public returns to show them affection and gratitude, the club has had an outstanding behavior with active solidarity campaigns, such as the choice of a special kit that premiered in July at a League appointment with a dedication to the toilets, in addition to the constant gestures towards those affected by the pandemic on social networks.
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Cadiz
Eu Marín: “The suspension of the Carnival has been a hard blow. For us, going out at Carnival is a philosophy of life ”
Eu Marín, a worker at the club's store, explains how in Cádiz, Carnival is a philosophy of life. The pandemic has taken away one of their passions from Cádiz and has also been an economic blow to the club in a year of returning to the First Division. Soccer and Carnival injected the city with good economic health. What not even the dictatorship could stop, the coronavirus has been in charge of stopping. Hope, now, is set in the year 2022. The pasodobles will return.
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Celtic
When the word protocol enters a sports city and the routine from the youngest to the oldest passes through its fulfillment
Eduardo Covelo, director of the Celta quarry since June 2019, reflects the changes established in a school and sports city, as well as in its routine, with the arrival of the pandemic. Covelo has learned daily lessons with the little ones and has had to adapt very quickly to the famous protocol, decipher them, see their alternatives, design a strategy and ensure its compliance.
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Eibar
The vintage T-shirt, a cap from the 80s and an unmistakable Barça umbrella in the shape of a visor were the hallmark of Blas Sánchez, a well-known armorer fan who could not cope with the virus
In Eibar, they mourn the death of their “painter”. Blas Sánchez was unmistakable with the vintage shirt, a cap from the 80s and his Barça umbrella in the form of a visor. Back in the 80s, he was an active member of the famous “Bombonera” from Eibar. He was different. His name is popular in many towns and cities that Eibar have played for over the past decades. The gunsmith team paid tribute to him in Ipurua by placing their unmistakable umbrella next to a bouquet of flowers on the side of the field before the game against Getafe. But the applause did not resound in the stadium, rather the thunderous applause went from the houses to heaven.
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Elche
The pandemic leaves businesses near the Martínez Valero stadium in Elche shaking, which are juggling not to lower the blinds of the business in the year of the return to Primera
Living a promotion, returning to the First Division, could have made businesses close to Martínez Valero de Elche re-float. Elche had been waiting for six years to return to the First Division and in the last blows of last summer he achieved it thanks to an agonizing goal from Pere Milla. The club, in a year without a pandemic, could have reached 25,000 members. That dream has come to nothing. The significant economic impact on the city has not been noticed. On the ground floor of the stadium, the feeling of ruin in this pandemic is total. Neither are meals organized in Ángel García's restaurant, nor do the boxes in the official team store smoke. A bleak situation.
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Getafe
The voice and the drum of the Coliseum faded, which now has its place in the stands and in the sky
The Bordalás team is going through a delicate situation, specifically since their fans do not accompany them in every game. The rocks try to maintain the blue flame, but there is one that will remain forever in the memory. The death of Javier Alonso, a historical member of the Peñas Federation of the azulón club, of which he became a spokesperson for several years and a link with the media, has been a very hard blow among the azulones. Now, his hype resounds in the sky and his phrase “today we win” will continue in the hearts of the supporters.
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grenade
The goalkeeper, Ángel Jiménez, the youngest debutant in Granada's history: good things happen even on the worst days
Among the dark clouds it is sometimes difficult to see the sun rise. The light in the dark in Granada is the story of Ángel Jiménez, the youngest debutant in the history of the Nasrid club. Due to the coronavirus outbreak in the squad, the subsidiary player put on the gloves against Real Sociedad in the League. And what a way to debut: victory, no goal conceded and a penalty saved to William José. And also, renewed until 2024. In Granada there is a doorman.
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Huesca
Maribel lovingly prepared coconut and chocolate roscones for the Huesca players for more than 40 years. Not even nutritionists could stop it, only COVID-19
SD Huesca is not having fortune this season. Goodbye to custom and goodbye to luck. The roscones that Maribel Esteban gave to the footballers and the coaching staff had even mocked nutritionists, but he could not cope with the coronavirus after 40 years of tradition. They were the prize of effort and victory. Its biggest secret was its elaboration, made with eggs from its own chickens and with an exquisite flavor, although the ones that have most triumphed among the players are the coconut and chocolate eggs. In addition, Maribel did not miss a single match from her Huesca at the stadium. Now, in emptied Spain and without Internet, it is the radio that brings Maribel closer to her team.
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I raised
More than 40 years, from a Levante in the Third Division to walking the shield through Europe, following Levante stopped by the coronavirus
Paco Fellanosa has grown up with the club of his life, Levante. 40 years following the team uninterruptedly as part of the official expedition and as many as a fan, since, at 88 years old, he has 75 as a subscriber. From a Levante in the Third Division, to walking the shield through Europe and even the recent Copa del Rey semifinal. The pandemic has slowed its flawless trajectory. Being considered a risk group, they have stopped traveling with the group. However, his spirit is still present.
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Osasuna
Even without previous pathologies, with a routine in the gym and with a careful diet, the director of Osasuna Txuma Iso has suffered the coronavirus and the horrible experience of the hospital
Osasuna is health in Basque and that is what Txuma Iso asks for every day. The manager of the rojillo club will not forget the day he was notified of his positive for coronavirus, on October 16, 2020. From that day on, he began to experience the ravages of the “bug”. It started with the sweats, the chills, and soon came the punctures in the chest. Iso was suffering from quite severe pneumonia which got worse and ended in a pulmonary infarction. He went from seeing Saint Peter calling him to experiencing the horror of the hospital firsthand. But on his return home, his nightmare did not end. The effects of the coronavirus remain on him, such as cramps, headaches or exhaustion.
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Real Madrid
Stadium under construction, bars closed and matches in Valdebebas: Real Madrid and the Bernabéu suffer the ravages of the coronavirus
The Santiago Bernabéu is the third most visited tourist attraction in the capital. In a pandemic and under construction, the clientele of the surrounding bars has disappeared. The area has been deteriorated. Some places have taken the opportunity to make reforms, others, directly, have closed. Neither tourists nor fans visit the vicinity of the white temple. An absence that is also noticeable in the subway. The last joy before desolation was the Classic on March 1, 2020. Meanwhile, we have to wait.
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Real society
Peio Godoy promised to buy the Real shirt with the inscription ‘COVID-19’ if his wife overcame the disease. Now he is looking for alternatives to live the Cup final without being able to travel
The derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic in the final of the Copa del Rey was a day marked in red for the Txuri Urdin fans. Peio Godoy had organized that trip to Seville to experience an unforgettable April 18, 2020. But the virus arrived, it entered the house and the plans were twisted. His wife, Idoia Etxeberria, works at the Yurreamendi Residence for the Elderly in Tolosa, the first center for the elderly to be severely hit by Covid19 in Gipuzkoa. He contracted the virus and got over it. And as I remember, Godoy registered Covid19 on the Real's shirt. Now they hope to enjoy again with better memories and new trips from the hand of the Imanol team.
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Seville
Araujo, Moreno and Pablo Blanco, the mythical trio of continental commentators from Sevilla, are one match away from being centenarians
During several seasons of glory, including the three of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Europa League, the trio of radio narrators of matches in Europe for Sevilla Fútbol Club were unable to narrate the Sixth in Germany. The journalist Miguel Ángel Moreno, along with the mythical narrator José Antonio Sánchez Araujo and the Sevilla legend Pablo Blanco narrated 99 European matches between Europa League, Champions and Super Cups, consecutively, just one out of a hundred. The coronavirus loaded his European adventure.
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Valencia
The Valencia project 'Escoles COR Blanquinegres' adapted quickly and continued to beat in confinement
Valencia was the first club in Spain to take measures to prevent broadcasting
of the coronavirus and the project ‘Escoles COR Blanquinegres’ one of the first to know how to adapt to the situation. For 6 years it has been an engine of “motivation through football values” for boys and girls at risk of social exclusion, as well as for inmates at the Picassent Penitentiary Center and three Juvenile Centers.
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Valladolid
Isailovic: “I don't want help for myself, I want it to save Ingoal, a business that didn't exist in the city”
On March 14, 2020, the business of Dragan Isailovic, former Real Valladolid player, was completely stopped. The one who was the most expensive signing in the club's history opened in October 2017 a business that did not exist in the city, Ingoal Club, the first indoor soccer facilities in Valladolid. Soccer is a lifelong passion and this business is for many years or so the former player who does not want to throw in the towel despite the obstacles and limitations to his business manifests it.
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Villarreal
When the pandemic takes away the best of every day: Villarreal fans miss their yellow family
Villarreal and his fans have a close, almost family relationship. The Castellón club is one of the few that allows access to almost all training sessions, as well as the option of being in the Sports City, and being able to wait for the players almost at the locker room door. An escape route and a routine that has disappeared. In the select group of yellow fans, Valentín Fraile, Juan Luis Botella and also the García, Juan and Rafa brothers stand out, habitual and essential in the daily life of the yellow submarine.
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