When his son was born in 2015, Alberto Peñil bought him a Racing bodysuit as a gift. “I thought the club was going to disappear and I put it on him,” he says, showing on his phone a photo of a newborn with a crest as big as his whole body. On his belly, the membership card he got him. Now, that baby is eleven years old and is sitting next to him, in the West Tribune seat of Sardinero, dressed in the maroon Racing jersey, the one he has chosen among the eight he has to see his team in the First Division for the first time. “It’s my favorite,” says the kid, smiling nervously at what is about to happen: that his team has not only not disappeared but has returned to the First Division, its place in history.
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Racing was relegated to the Second Division in 2012, wandered between the lower categories and the abyss, and this Sunday has signed its return to the top category with a 2-2 draw against Villarreal that tastes like a victory, but not only a sporting one. There was a match ahead, but inside, for the 22,413 attendees, something else was happening: “Today ends a fourteen-year via crucis,” says Pedro Gómez, a member since 1993. Racing fandom is a form of permanence, in bad times and worse, that is the certainty that has crossed the match, that of witnessing a rebirth, with the songs that turn El Sardinero into a speaker, at that emotional volume that is both a warning to the rivals to come and a spring to lift the team when you are winning 2-0 and they equalize you in just one minute at 47’. (What a final surge from Villarreal). Because Racing is also that, it is the green miracle and the immortal, it is the abrupt.
The category has changed, the opponents, Julen Agirrezabala, Sergio Canales, Pedro Felipe and Yassir Zabiri have arrived, but there is something unalterable in the image that this Racing transmits no matter how many more spotlights there are now and promise more shine. Andrés Martín’s penalty goal in the 21st minute opened the floodgates, but then, the blast from youth player Sergio Martínez showed that racing fandom is also a belief in the future, and as proof, the goal scored in his debut in the top category.
At halftime there is a familiar feeling on the field, like the reunion after school holidays with desk mates. The field is full of children, youngsters, parents who show and grandparents who wear; and among all, the same look of amazement and admiration. Because the face that Racing is showing is that of a team capable of building plays and exploring possibilities, while the decibels explode with entries like Romero’s on Andrés Martín, including a trip from behind.
The older ones have seen the darkness from within, the little ones only imagine the light, and until the match ends, none will know that what they have just witnessed has to do with legacies, like that of César Pardo, who is in line to buy popcorn and water for his children. Hugo, 13 years old, wears the promotion jersey: “I always wear the same one, if they win, I don’t change it,” he says. In the next match, who knows if he will take another one out of the closet because what has been seen is to grow fond of the garment. His father has built his emotional memory within the stadium walls, in fact, he says, “sitting in the North Tribune I found out that Ayrton Senna had died,” and points to the place where thousands of fans jump and transform the building into a mass of green and white water, singing and cheering and rising like the waves of the beach.
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What will Canales feel on his return home at the first shot on goal, when the volume of the stadium rises so much that your ears feel pressed as if a plane were taking off? Maybe that, taking off, or sinking when they whistle a dangerous foul against him. What will Íñigo Vicente, the wizard of Derio, feel when what they fight for is not promotion but something much more imprecise and elevated that will be defined match by match, among songs?
FOR THOSE WHO NEVER SAW RACING IN THE FIRST DIVISION.
— DAZN España (@DAZN_ES) August 16, 2026
FOR THOSE WHO LEFT WITH THE HOPE OF RETURNING TO THE TOP.
FOR THE MAGICAL EUROPEAN NIGHTS AT SARDINERO.
TODAY IN SANTANDER #LALIGAEASPORTS RETURNS.
TODAY A HISTORIC RETURNS🥹#LALIGAenDAZN ⚽ pic.twitter.com/gaD6F56P4F
The season has just started and the final point is again set by the chorus: “An illusion chases us” sings the crowd before the players in the half-moon. “Gustavo stay,” they sing to Puerta, who is yet to define his future at the club. Meanwhile, the usual, what remains Sunday after Sunday, point by point. “We have returned,” they finally sing.
Villarreal, who finished LaLiga in third place and faces Champions teams again this year, earns a point at El Sardinero against a team that made it difficult from the first minute.
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| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Standings | PT | PJ | PG | PE | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
