Harborough Town’s humble ground in Leicestershire became a destination for more than 100 Spanish fans who made the trip to watch the seventh-tier club take on St Ives Town.
Harborough Town fans were stunned last Saturday when the foreigners, donning the team’s yellow shirt, joined them in the stands and chanted in Spanish throughout the game, despite Harborough’s 2-1 defeat.
The group were subscribers to the Spanish YouTube channel La Media Inglesa (LMI) dedicated to English football, which has previously taken fans to games at Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United, but this time they brought an unexpected twist to the UK’s soccer tourism.
“Our aim was to transform a small local English club into a small local club with a global fanbase,” LMI founder Ilie Oleart told the BBC on Friday.
“We thought they were the perfect club with the right values to share with our audience. It was certainly the best trip we have had so far.”
Alvaro Sanz, another fan from Spain, added: “Quite a few local fans joined us, and we even taught them some chants in Spanish.”
According to marketing agency Two Circles, 80.2 million fans attended professional sports in the UK in 2023. Soccer made up two-thirds of that number, with the Premier League (15.8 million) accounting for one in five of all sports attendances.
Harborough chairman Pete Dougan said a partnership with LMI was an “opportunity to grow our fanbase and income” and added the team would visit Barcelona and Madrid for a pre-season tour in July.
