💚⚽️ Racing Santander's Big Night Out

On Saturday night, Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. secured promotion back to La Liga after fourteen years away.

Photographer Álvaro Varrager was in the middle of it all: crushed against barriers, camera shaking, supporters screaming in disbelief as results elsewhere swung in Racing’s favour in real time.

“It was absolute madness,” he tells (A)WAY. “There were ten minutes left and the stadium completely exploded.”

Born in Valladolid in 2000, he spent much of his childhood between Valladolid and Santander, growing up in the long shadow of the Messi and Cristiano era. Like most Spanish kids of that generation, he was pulled towards the glamour of Barça and Real Madrid, especially Ronaldinho’s Barcelona. But the deeper connection always came from closer to home.

“In Santander, that feeling of supporting your local club never disappeared,” he says. “Even when Racing were in the second division, the third division, almost the fourth, the city still stood behind them.”

His earliest memory of Racing is wonderfully simple: the green shirts. “Green was my favourite colour as a kid,” he laughs. “So before I even properly supported Barça, I already liked Racing Santander.”

That loyalty has been tested more than most. Racing are one of Spain’s historic clubs: founding members of the league, with 44 seasons in La Liga and UEFA Cup appearances behind them. But the last decade has been brutal. Relegations, financial collapse, near extinction. In 2014, supporters famously invaded the directors’ box during a Copa del Rey protest against the club’s ownership; a moment still etched into modern Spanish football folklore.

“That feeling that the people themselves saved the club has marked this region forever,” he says.

Maybe that explains the atmosphere. Ask anyone who’s been to El Sardinero recently and they’ll tell you the same thing: this doesn’t feel like modern Spanish football in the polished, tourist-heavy sense. It feels raw. Collective. Proper.

“There’s not another stadium in Spain like this one,” he says. “Everyone stands, everyone sings, everyone lives every second together.”

Saturday’s scenes captured that perfectly. Racing needed to beat Real Valladolid, but they also needed UD Almería to slip up over 1,000 kilometres away. When Racing made it 3–1, the stadium still held its breath. Then news filtered through that UD Las Palmas had turned Almería’s game around within the space of two minutes.

Pandemonium.

“One fan grabbed me by the neck and screamed: ‘Take photos! Take as many photos as you can! This is Cantabria’s history.’”

Next season will be difficult. The financial gap between Spain’s elite and everyone else grows wider every year. Survival alone would be a huge achievement. But there’s a sense Racing might have something money can’t manufacture: continuity, identity and genuine connection.

“The manager’s been here for years. Most of the players have stayed together. The relationship with the fans is something I honestly haven’t seen anywhere else in a long time.”

Whatever happens next, nobody in Santander really seems too concerned right now. After fourteen years away, Racing are back where they believe they belong. And for one night at least, football felt like it belonged to the people again.

Thanks to the great Mark Leech at OFFSIDE for introducing us to Varrager's work. Sign up for OFFSIDE's mailing list (in their footer).