My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
If I had to use one word to describe these ten or 11 years that we’ve been competing in the Champions League, it’d be amazing. Of course, no one thought we could make it to two finals, to the semi-finals. Of course, there have been times when we have fallen short, but in most seasons we have done amazingly well in the Champions League. We couldn’t put the cherry on top those two times, it’s true, but we had some great campaigns and amazing nights that no Atlético de Madrid supporter ever dreamed of. In previous years, it was difficult to imagine we could ever make it to a Champions League final, but we achieved that with two outstanding teams. There have been some dream nights for our supporters.
I always want to improve, I always want my team, Atlético de Madrid, the team I support, to win. I always leave everything on the pitch. That’s what I’ve been doing all these years in order to win and see all the supporters happy.
In the end, I owe everything to them. They’re the ones who help us overcome very difficult moments in a match. The fans are great with me. They always support me through the toughest times. They’ve helped me, and I’m with them to the bitter end. They don’t owe me anything; it’s the other way around. What I need to do, every time I go onto the pitch in the Atlético de Madrid shirt or now with the captain’s armband, is fight for my team and for them.
I think the word that best defines me would be team-mate. I could think about it in selfish terms and say, “I’ve won this and that and played so many games”, but that’s not how I think of it. I always think about the team, my team-mates, and giving my best to create that synergy with them. I don’t consider myself better than anybody else, and I think that’s key. Team-mate is a word that would define me very well.
It’s a source of pride that many people and many kids look up to me. At the end of the day, the hard work I put in when I was young and enjoying the good fortune of playing for the team I support, where I’ve trained since I was little, is a huge source of pride. The fact that many people identify with me or say they want to be like me fills me with pride. Of course, it’s difficult; you have to make a lot of sacrifices, but hopefully it can help people reach their goals, not only in football but in their lives.
My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
If I had to use one word to describe these ten or 11 years that we’ve been competing in the Champions League, it’d be amazing. Of course, no one thought we could make it to two finals, to the semi-finals. Of course, there have been times when we have fallen short, but in most seasons we have done amazingly well in the Champions League. We couldn’t put the cherry on top those two times, it’s true, but we had some great campaigns and amazing nights that no Atlético de Madrid supporter ever dreamed of. In previous years, it was difficult to imagine we could ever make it to a Champions League final, but we achieved that with two outstanding teams. There have been some dream nights for our supporters.
I always want to improve, I always want my team, Atlético de Madrid, the team I support, to win. I always leave everything on the pitch. That’s what I’ve been doing all these years in order to win and see all the supporters happy.
In the end, I owe everything to them. They’re the ones who help us overcome very difficult moments in a match. The fans are great with me. They always support me through the toughest times. They’ve helped me, and I’m with them to the bitter end. They don’t owe me anything; it’s the other way around. What I need to do, every time I go onto the pitch in the Atlético de Madrid shirt or now with the captain’s armband, is fight for my team and for them.
I think the word that best defines me would be team-mate. I could think about it in selfish terms and say, “I’ve won this and that and played so many games”, but that’s not how I think of it. I always think about the team, my team-mates, and giving my best to create that synergy with them. I don’t consider myself better than anybody else, and I think that’s key. Team-mate is a word that would define me very well.
It’s a source of pride that many people and many kids look up to me. At the end of the day, the hard work I put in when I was young and enjoying the good fortune of playing for the team I support, where I’ve trained since I was little, is a huge source of pride. The fact that many people identify with me or say they want to be like me fills me with pride. Of course, it’s difficult; you have to make a lot of sacrifices, but hopefully it can help people reach their goals, not only in football but in their lives.
My name is Jorge Resurrección Merodio, better known as Koke. When I was a child, my brother started calling me “Koke, Koke, Koke”, and then everyone in the neighbourhood and my friends at school called me Koke, and it’s been Koke ever since. Sometimes, when my mum got angry, she would call me by my real name, Jorge, but everyone knows me as Koke.
For my First Communion, I got a World Cup football. It was mine and I didn’t want anyone to touch it, because we’re a family that didn’t really have much money. We come from a background of working-class people from the barrio, people who fought to make ends meet. So that football that I was given for my communion was like a treasure to me.
I was raised in Vallecas and I’ve seen many kinds of people. I’ve learned from all of them, even from those who did some not-so-good things, and from the people that did really good things and went down another path. I’ve seen both sides of life. Living in that neighbourhood formed my personality and made me the person I am today. Work, sacrifice, never stopping… fighting for your dreams. In the barrios, people have to fight for their dreams and they motivated me to fight for mine.
When we were little, we played in the park. There was natural grass and there was a sort of concrete square too, and we played there. The goals were the benches where people used to sit and, very often, they didn’t sit there because we were always playing. There was always a group of kids playing in the street.
I was born an Atlético de Madrid fan. My parents supported Atlético de Madrid, my sister too… Atlético de Madrid was always there. When I was a child, I remember going there with my father on Children’s Day, when there were many different activities outside the stadium, so we all had incredible fun, and then you’d watch Atleti. That is one of the most beautiful memories a supporter can have. Going to the stadium with your father or your grandfather is the best thing anyone can do.
We had season tickets and so did my grandparents. Because we didn’t have much money one of us would go to one game and the other to the next one. As I played for the academy, I was given tickets and we sometimes used those. We alternated going to the stadium, and sometimes I couldn’t go because of my own matches, but I could watch it on TV.
I know I have done great things at this club. Everybody mentions the legacy I am leaving behind, but I don’t think about it. I just think about playing, about improving, about having minutes on the pitch, about winning titles, about what is maybe still to come. In the future, I’m sure I’ll think about it calmly; I will meet friends, drink wine with them and talk about everything I’ve done. It will only be then, once I’ve retired, that I’ll realise everything I have done. I’m sure then that that young child will see everything that he has built.
