El Atlético Paso, from the misfortune of the volcano to the illusion of the Cup: "A year ago we were almost hopeless"

At 3:10 p.m.

, life stopped on the island of

.

The eruption of the

volcano kept the entire country in suspense for

, destroying the surrounding towns and turning the sky dark gray until December

.

Today, 372 days after the end of the nightmare, life will stop again on La Palma, although this time for a festive reason:

.

The fate of the ball has meant that the happiest team this season is

, a club from the

whose stadium is a couple of kilometers from the volcano.

, which during the disaster was used as a logistics center to distribute food, drink and care for the victims, celebrated the promotion from the

in May and tonight (10:00 p.m.) will be the scene of the match most important in the club's history, the

second round tie against

.

All a First.

"A movie with a happy ending"

«In December 2021

, we could not continue paying the players and many sponsors had remained under the lava, the emotional situation was terrible, and now we are living this... It's like a scary movie with a happy ending », reflects in EL MUNDO

, president of the club.

"Being able to play a

tie was the culmination of a dream, and by beating

and now playing against Espanyol we revolutionized the island of La Palma," he adds excitedly.

El Paso

was saved from the path of las coladas by a couple of kilometers, divine luck that freed him from direct misfortune and allowed his soccer team, Atlético, to continue being active in the

.

"At first people did not see well that we continued training and playing," recalls Nazco.

"But we explained to them that the players lived from that and that although in their spare time they collaborated with the citizens by collecting clothes or giving food, in the end it is also necessary to

and clear their heads."

And time proved him right.

The months helped to recover part of the normality of the island and to accumulate points in the box for Atlético Paso, which ended up achieving a historic promotion.

«

for everything we were living.

It is the light that illuminates the soul.

It helped us to clear our minds and to hug our friends in the stands, "says Nazco, who details how the economy of the club and the municipality has evolved:" The mood has been rising little by little.

Some of those who lost everything have set up the company elsewhere and we, thanks to the echo that the team has had and the solidarity of the people, have managed to open our market.

We asked the Federation for help, some partners left us money... Little by little we have recovered normality.

"Football has been our disconnection"

The promotion to the Second RFEF caused several changes in the sports management of the club.

The coach,

, became sports director, and

, 34, born in Tazacorte, attached to

and former

, joined the bench .

"During the eruption he was on the Messenger, but he lived in El Paso.

And as a soccer fan on the island, we had our sights set on Atlético Paso.

It is sweet to be here, in the third team of the Canary Islands, "he admits to EL MUNDO.

In the locker room led by Hernández ,

range from

monthly and all the footballers are professionals.

Everything, yes, far from the hundreds of thousands of euros that Espanyol players charge.

“One of their players can charge more than our entire budget.

Football is like that".

Ball fever has flooded the island thanks to the Volcano Club, as it is known.

"

.

Something very special for the misfortunes we have experienced.

Soccer has been our disconnection from the volcano, a path of illusion.

The palmero, who, as he has shown, is very strong-minded, is also a great soccer fan.

It is going to be difficult to go into the future without forgetting what has happened, but

and having hopes”, concludes the coach.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• The Palm

• La Palma volcano