No matter who you support, Messi is the best footballer in the world by Andrea Bujor

I think the thing that has stood out to me most here has been how much emphasis and passion there is towards football. Back home in Calgary, Canada there isn’t as much of a passion or cultural “togetherness,” as there is here for sports. In Canada, the main sport is hockey, so I may be biased because I have always had more of a passion for football rather than hockey, but I notice some major cultural differences in the 2 sports and how it brings people together. Here, it is more common for people to gather on the streets and parade their support for their teams. Even in bars, there is more of a collective mindset and occurrence of bringing together people from different groups and cultures to support their team. For example, I was watching a game a couple weeks ago and my Spanish friend was cheering and embracing with an Italian individual because of their love and support for their winning team, although neither could communicate verbally with one another. The support and passion here is definitely more relevant, as even my professors and Spanish friends bring up previous games or current stats.

Being a FC Barcelona fan and watching them play Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, I definitely witnessed firsthand how much support and love people have for their team, especially when I got a few glares for cheering on my team during the final.

Back home, I don’t think there is that much of a togetherness or love for a sport as much as I’ve seen here in Seville and Europe as a whole. It is also more common to find games playing in many restaurants and bars. There is also more sportsmanship here and an appreciation of the sport even if some individuals don’t like a certain team. However, I am sure all Spaniards can agree that no matter who you support, Messi is the best footballer in the world :)

Below, I’ve added a picture I took while visiting Madrid about a month ago.