By Chris Slavin
Supporters from the Basque Country visited AFC Wimbledon for the first time on Saturday – and they hope to be back for a visit to Plough Lane in the future.
The 'Continental Dons' - a group consisting mainly of Athletic Bilbao fans – enjoyed a stadium tour, before sampling the great taste of our very own Wimbledon 1889 Lager!
Clip on the video link below to watch our Commercial Director Ivor Heller showing fans around the stadium.
Josu Gil, a Bilbao fan who lives in Madrid, talked enthusiastically about his support for Wimbledon and added that he would love to attend a game at a new stadium in Plough Lane.
"I followed Wimbledon in the 1990s in the Premier League, but I was not so familiar with what happened about the movement of the club," he said. "I heard about the creation of the new club when Wimbledon first played Milton Keynes in 2012. At that moment, the story got to me again! I started to search up information about AFC Wimbledon and I talked to friends about it. Finally, five years later we've managed to get here to see our first live game. We enjoyed the day a lot (it would have been perfect with a victory!). It was a great experience for us.
"I live in Madrid now, but I was born in the Basque Country. We also have friends who follow the club from Madrid. Most of us are Athletic Bilbao supporters and our club moved to a new 55,000 stadium two years ago. It is a nice, modern stadium and has increased revenue for the club. We've had a great welcome here at AFC Wimbledon and it is a big target for us to watch a match at Plough Lane, after the new stadium is built."