Tshepo Ntsoelengoe’s diary

Tshepo, as well as several journalists around the world, have been invited to tour Spain as part of LaLiga strategy to grow their brand around the globe.

Join Tshepo as he shares his experience of Spain through his diary.

Day 1

First time in Europe and I have to admit, this is one experience I will cherish for the rest of my life. It’s just my first full day of having to experience Spain following long hours of travelling and having to transit via Munich in Germany to get to Bilbao, and I am just glad to have made it to this side of the world.

This is one of the exciting weeks of football for the Spanish, particularly the Basque side, where you find Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad.

The two giants of LaLiga are set to lock horns this weekend in what is called the Basque derby for the people in the Northern part of Spain.

Leading up to the derby, I, along with other journalists from across the world, got to visit Athletic’s training fields and its also home to Le Zama, the club’s development side and female soccer team – the most successful women’s team in the Spanish women’s League. The facilities are top class and there are still some renovations being done to expand the whole area.

Then the next stop was the highlight of the day.

We got a chance to visit San Mames, the home ground of Bilbao and is one of the oldest football ground’s in Spain with over 100 years of existence. However, the stadium was recently renovated six-years ago with a capacity of just over 53,000 and has a built-in museum which teaches people about the history of the club and it also has a restaurant.

We got to experience the culture and one of the things that I noticed about the Basque people is that they love their food and wine.

The day ended up with a city tour and a couple of activities lined-up for us.

I will be sharing more of my experiences in Spain as I will be visiting more stadiums and the places and other Basque teams like Eibar, Sociedad and Alaves.

Phakaaathi writer Tshepo Ntsoelengoe with other journalists at San Mames Stadium.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.