Latest news with #IlieOleart
BBC News
28-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Spanish fans inspire non-league Harborough Town's summer tour
A non-league football club is gearing up for a pre-season tour to Madrid after gaining a surprising following in Town were visited in April by more than 100 Spaniards who subscribe to a YouTube channel devoted to English Media Inglesa (LMI), founded by Barcelona-born Ilie Oleart, decided to collaborate with the seventh tier club after meeting representatives last Leicestershire side, nicknamed the Bees, will return the favour with a visit to the Spanish capital next month to play two fixtures. Harborough will fly from Stansted on 17 July and are due to play a Spanish Select XI made up of recently released players that following day will involve a meet and greet with fans organised by LMI, and the team will host an open training 19 July, the Bees will face Spanish third tier outfit AD Alcorcón at the 5,100 capacity Estadio Santo Domingo before flying home the next announcing the tour details on social media, the club offered "a massive thank you to La Media Inglesa for organising this brilliant opportunity". Ricardo Pan, from A Coruña, said he has followed LMI since 2018 and will be making the trip to see Harborough play in added: "We went to the town Market Harborough which was amazing. Everyone loved it."We went for a couple of beers after the game with the players and with some fans."We were chanting and we were singing for almost like two hours and it was just amazing."I don't know how the players will take the weather in Madrid in July because it's really hot, almost 40 degrees or something like that, so it will be complicated but I'm just happy and they will be playing against such a historical club like Alcorcón."Mr Pan said he hopes to return to England next season to watch the Bees and hopes the team can earn promotion from the Southern League Premier Central. LMI has almost 450,000 subscribers and covers English football for Spanish-speaking began organising trips to the UK in 2018 so the fans could watch games in person, but Mr Oleart said the next step was to become involved with an English club.
Reuters
19-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Non-league game in England attracts 100 Spanish supporters
April 19 (Reuters) - 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 Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. 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,, opens new tab 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.
