carlos jaén He is a real estate agent, self-employed and, as of this week, a little hero of rayismeither. He has three European trips following Rayo. Bratislava, Athens and Strasbourg. Each one was an improvised logistics operation that began before leaving Spain. For Bratislava, the flight left from Alicante. Round trip from Alicante, return with a hotel night in Alicante. For Strasbourg, a six-hour stopover in Frankfurt on the way out and another six on the way back. When Rayo qualified for the final in Leipzig, Carlos did a quick calculation. The cheapest option—a flight to Munich a day in advance—was 550 euros plus train and accommodation. He preferred to pay 690, go directly and leave on the day of the game. This is how the idea of chartering to help Rayismo was born.
Although in reality it had been brewing before. For Athens he had already tested the possibility: He spoke to a couple of companies, surveyed prices, nothing came out. When Leipzig arrived he tried seriously. The first broker asked for 123,000 euros in a single payment. He then found a company specialized in sports travel that asked him the key question: do you have people? Carlos didn’t have people yet. I had a WhatsApp group. “The Strip in Leipzig“, 800 members, heir to previous groups that started in Gothenburg. He dumped it there at seven in the afternoon. At ten at night the first plane was sold: 220 seats in three hours. The charter did not exist when he started selling it.
Now he works on the second one, which leaves on the 27th at 7:30 and returns on the 28th at dawn, and what moves him is no longer solving his problem but that of others. “There are a lot of people giving out subscriptions, giving out codes for the love of art. I’m the one who shows my face, but this is thanks to everyone”he reveals.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood looks for a way to get there as best it can, turning the map of Europe into a board of impossible connections. Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Prague, Nuremberg, Rome, Sofia, Mallorca or Tenerife. Even a flight from Palma to Leipzig that connects with German tourists. Each fan has built their own impossible itinerary to reach a final that was not in any plan.
I didn’t imagine that I would be able to fill two charters to go to the dream of an entire neighborhood
The odyssey does not end with the flight. The Rayo website collapsed when thousands of subscribers tried to manage their tickets simultaneously. Carlos was automatically confirmed with the location of a friend who had given him his code because his daughter was getting married that day. Result: his brother and that friend Mobile phones will be exchanged during the thirty hours of the trip so that the ID matches with access to the stadium. “We have to go that far to be able to go see the final when we have spent 700 euros on a flight and 45 on the ticket.” In Strasbourg, Carlos paid 150 euros for his ticket because the cheapest ones were no longer available. Still it was.
The Rayista fans in Strasbourg.
Carlos goes to Leipzig with his father and brother. His grandfather is 88 years old and came to Vallecas from Andalusia when he was 14, to the Entrevillas neighborhood, where he planted the seed of Rayo in the family. He would like to go but he can’t. The trip is too much. Carlos has already promised him the alternative plan: if Rayo wins, on Thursday he takes him for a walk around the neighborhood with the cup. “I already fulfilled my dream of traveling with my father through Europe to see Rayo. “I didn’t imagine that I would be able to fill two charters to go to the dream of an entire neighborhood.”.
To define all this, Carlos uses an image. “Rayismo is a drifting ship that sails all the seas of Europe. It is a club that is rudderless, but we people are there, all the pirates, making it stay afloat”. On May 27, in Leipzig, that ship will arrive in port. Carlos has no doubts: “We’re going to win it. That’s how it’s going to be”.
