“Soccer is the world’s favorite sport.” As any “She’s the Man” movie fan knows, this is one of the most memorable lines. Soccer, or football as it is referred to over here, really is one of the most popular sports around the globe.
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My relationship with soccer had a rocky start when I was five years old, as I clearly didn’t inherit my dad’s soccer skills. I spent more time talking to my sister on the sidelines and grabbing a snack than I did following the ball and we have the home videos to prove it. However, I really enjoy watching the sport now.
I didn’t start out my study abroad experience thinking I would go see one game, let alone two. The first game I saw was an Atlético Madrid home game during the day in Spain and the second game was a Manchester United home game at night. While both games were high energy and fun to watch, they did have their differences.
For both games, we had nosebleed seats, which provided a great view of the entire stadium. My friends and I had wandered up to the Atlético stadium two hours before the game and were fortunate to be able to purchase tickets. We got discounted tickets for the Manchester game through the university. The Atlético stadium was completely open whereas the Manchester United stadium had a covering over most of it. The designs worked in our favor as it was warm in Madrid and nice to soak up the sun, but then cold in Manchester so the covering kept us from freezing.
The actual game in Manchester was more aggressive than the one in Madrid and security surrounded the area where the opposing team’s fans were. I think the increased rivalry of the Manchester game lead to more cheering and banter. Even though everyone was speaking English, the crowd’s cheers were so loud we couldn’t catch on to what they were yelling. We had better luck at the Atlético game listening to a boy sitting behind us. He screamed at the referees more than any of the adults around us when there was a controversial foul and contributed a lot of energy and passion to the game experience.
We didn’t get a chance to witness the atmosphere in Manchester before the game, as parking was a challenge, but in Spain, everyone gathered at restaurants nearby beforehand. The main street was closed off for vendors to sell merchandise and almost every fan we saw had a scarf or jersey on. I joined in on the trend and bought a child’s jersey on sale to wear for the game.
Both games were fantastic and I loved being able to take part in local experiences. It definitely helped that both home teams, Atlético and Manchester United, won the games we watched. I highly recommend going to a game if you visit Europe, even if you were terrible at the sport when you were five years old.