Undergraduate student Tom came to Valencia for the Study Abroad program and fell in love with Valencia CF whilst here. Read all about his passion for the team below, or if you prefer, through the football (soccer) team’s official site.

Words by Thomas McGeoch

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My love for Valencia CF all started during my first year at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.

I was already a huge soccer fan and I played FIFA all the time. While I was at Berklee, I learned about the Valencia study abroad program. Both of my older brothers had studied abroad, and I really wanted to have that experience too. As soon as I found out about the opportunity I had to go to Valencia, I started playing as Valencia CF when I played FIFA.

Through the video game, I got familiar with all of the players who were on the team at that time, and I began to stream Valencia CF games on my computer. I finally had the chance to go see some quality soccer in Europe, and I knew that Valencia CF was the team for me. I went to every single home game at Mestalla while I was in Spain, and those were life changing experiences for me. I made sure I went back to the USA with many Valencia CF jerseys and scarves. If it wasn’t for the Berklee College of Music study abroad program, I don’t think I would be the Valencia CF fan that I am today.

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It’s tough keeping up with Valencia CF here in Los Angeles due to the time change, but thanks to social media I can still be in the loop. I love being a Peña VCF USA member too. It’s fun to have this network of friends who are fellow VCF fans to talk about the team with. I occasionally play FIFA 17 with the founder of Peña VCF USA, Armando, and our Valencia CF vs. Valencia CF games get pretty intense. I check twitter all the time and that makes things easy to stay updated on all things VCF as well. I try to watch as many games as I can, and when I can’t watch, I check the ESPN app as soon as I can to see how the game went.

Last year, when Valencia CF played against Columbus Crew SC (my favorite MLS team), I got to meet a ton of other Peña VCF USA members and that was an amazing experience. I never would’ve thought that Crew SC would ever play against Valencia CF. Meeting the VCF players and staff was truly a dream come true. I really hope that I can go back to Spain soon and watch a game at Mestalla again. AMUNT!

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© Valencia Club De Fútbol

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