Seville in October can feel like midsummer heat, so a light, flowing skirt becomes the sensible choice. The city welcomed a spiky-tartan spectacle as the Scottish fanbase known as the “Tartan Army” filled the lanes and plazas, trailing their team with a shared passion and generous cheer. Their presence in the capital came just before a Euro 2024 qualifier against Luis de la Fuente’s squad. At the foot of the Giralda, a cheerful exchange with locals happened late into the evening, a moment of easy camaraderie between strangers that captured Seville’s hospitable charm.
From La Fresquita to Las Columnas
At La Fresquita, a small tavern where incense crowns the room, the place feels almost like a sanctuary of friendship on Mateos Gagos Street. A 60-year-old Scotsman asked why a pallium hung over the bar, its voice rising with the familiar bell that signals a broadcast. “Is it now?” he wondered. “No, mate, it’s a video. We’re waiting for Betis to start,” joked a regular, Sevilla-style humor sumptuously filling the air. The venue offered a lively mix of Sevillan youth in kilts and visiting Scottish fans, all sharing tables and stories late into the night.
Spain-Scotland: Football will be noisy with the Euro Cup in the background
Fermin de la Calle
Security noted a few cautions for those who enjoyed the heat a bit too much, but overall there were no incidents. “This is a well-intentioned hobby,” remarked one officer. “They drink a lot, but they’re not violent.” A few steps away, at another beloved spot, Las Columnas, locals watched the game while Manolo, a lifelong waiter, offered the famed Sevillian dishes. A local winery in the Santa Cruz district served cod rolls, spinach with cheese sauce, and what many call the best tortilla in Seville, paired with Cruzcampo on ice. Wednesday night carried the pulse of a Friday, thanks to the eve of the Hispanic Heritage Festival. The city center thrummed with energy, with William Wallace’s descendants seemingly everywhere you looked, a nod to the shared love of football and history.
Seville has long been a magnet for national team fans, a magnet that pulls in whenever Spain’s squad is scheduled to play in the city. Tonight marks the start of a familiar rhythm, with 54 such gatherings anticipated in the wake of a national team campaign that has seen more dances of celebration and disappointment than any other city can recall. The last match at Benito Villamarín, in June 2022, saw Portugal advance with cautious play, while a World Cup qualifier in November 2021 brought a Viking visit from Sweden to La Cartuja. That 1-0 victory, courtesy of Morata, helped Spain secure a place in the World Cup in Qatar.
Seville has been the fixed base for eleven years
Among all Spain’s national team fixtures in Guadalquivir, one match stands out for its symbolic weight: the 12-1 victory over Malta on 21 December 1983, which sealed the 1984 European Championship spot in France. That win solidified Seville as the permanent venue for Spain’s qualifying clashes from 1984 to 1995, with Sánchez Pizjuán and Benito Villamarín hosting pivotal duels for World Cups 86, 90, and 94, as well as Euro Championships 88, 92, and 96. The pattern shifted after the Armenia match in 1995, but the city’s role remained deeply rooted in the national team’s journey.
The story begins earlier still, in 1923 on 16 December, when Spain played its first match in Seville at the old Reina Victoria stadium. The venue, used by Sevilla FC in its early days, held 8,000 spectators in a single wooden stand, with the south end a terrace of sand where fans stood to watch. The team, nicknamed the “red fury,” opened with a victory against Portugal, sparked by an Oviedo hat-trick from Zabala and the debut of Sevillian internationals Spencer and Herminio.
Over the years, Sánchez Pizjuán, located in the Nervión district, has become a temple of football lore. Although the city has seen constant construction and change, it has never lost its place in the annals of the national team, with 24 Spain matches hosted locally and 65 players earning their first Spain cap wearing Seville colors. Legends such as Iribar, Fusté, Rifé, and Juanito laid foundations here, and later stars like Gerard Piqué, Xavi, and Puyol joined the city’s long list of internationals. More recently, talents such as Iturraspe and Deulofeu have added to the lineage.
Sixty-six could be the number for a future debut this Thursday—a Malaga-born player who starred for Betis and grew up with limited space at home, Bryan Zaragoza is seen as a potential game-changer for Spain’s young roster under Luis de la Fuente. As one local noted near the Cloister area behind the Plaza del Salvador, a mix of curiosity and pride colors the conversations. A Sevillian woman who crossed paths with the thousands of Scots on Wednesday night signs off with a smile: the city’s warmth and spirit can turn crowded nights into moments of shared joy. Four thousand fans are expected in La Cartuja; many more will gather in taverns near the cathedral or in the winding lanes of Santa Cruz. It’s a city that welcomes visitors with blankets of hospitality and the confidence to celebrate football as a unifying force.”