Sevillista seré hasta la muerte…

By: Ryan | August 7th, 2007

And today…God said, ‘Let Ryan bring the La Liga fans of the world out of the darkness, and draw them to the team that is FC Sevilla’ and there was much rejoicing…yayyyyy. (cue Monty Python)

Welcome all to the FC Sevilla blog on The Offside, about simply the best damn team in La Liga. Just a bit about me and how I came to be a Sevillista and not a bloodsucking Bético.

In the fall of 2004, I was a Senior at the University at Buffalo, and had an opportunity to study abroad in Sevilla, Spain. I was a Spanish major at the time and was always drawn to Europe for lots of things, and love for football was one of them. So I packed up my bags, and moved to Sevilla.

Upon arriving in Sevilla, I already knew that they had two teams, and decided to be a Sevillista, because I really didn’t have an established side I supported in Spain, unlike my childhood love for Liverpool.

We unpacked and decided to take a walk. We went out of our apartment, turned right and walked about 100 yards and there it was. The Ramón Sanchez Pizjuan, FC Sevilla’s home stadium, right there in all it’s glory. They actually had a game that night, and sure as hell I scalped a few tickets and we went and I was hooked.

The stadium is right behind a HUGE shopping mall (for Spanish standards). It’s the equivalent of Madison Square Garden dwarfed by a 300 store shopping mega-superplex and throw in a 20 screen movie theater as well.

So ever since that day, I’ve been a Sevillista, and what a ride it’s been.

Why is FC Sevilla better than your team?

From a team that was considered by most to be a Second rate team a few years back, we have won two back-to-back UEFA cup championships, were ranked the number one team in Europe in the Summer of 2006, and are the defending Copa del Rey champions in Spain after being Getafe last season. AND had it not been for a pretty lackluster end to the season in La Liga, we could have been champions. Yeah yeah, I know coulda, woulda, shoulda, but we had it there for the taking and just couldn’t finish. But we will be back, don’t worry.

And our keeper, Andres Palop scored on a header to keep us in the UEFA Cup, when’s the last time YOUR keeper scored on a header eh?

And simply put, Juande Ramos is a coaching legend, taking over our team after Caparrós upped and left us for dead. Now Ramos is being pursused by Chelsea and other high-profile foreign clubs because of his coaching ability. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, we don’t fire our manager just because another one becomes available (cough Madrid cough). He also was blasted in the head with a full one-liter bottle of liquid that was launched from the stands during one of the Sevilla-Betis derbies last season and was knocked out, but was back coaching the next day. He’s braver than a matador in high heels in a pink tutu.

Also, our centennial song by El Arrebato made it to Number one on the Spanish charts upon it’s release. So take that Madridistias.

So now that I’m here on The Offside, expect fanatically biased looks at FC Sevilla and how we will devour La Liga this year, starting with Madrid on the 10th in the Supercopa de España.

So thanks for visiting, and hope to see you back here again soon!