Simon Melnik loves the Submarine so much he founded a fan club
Simon Melnik may be from Slovakia and live in London, but he is still a loyal Villarreal CF supporter. Simon (on the right in the main picture) is one of a number of Villarreal fans in the Slovakian town of Michalovce, which is twinned with Vila-real.
He has been a Villarreal fan since the club’s first promotion to the top flight in 1998. “I remember watching the VCR tape from both games against Compostela in my friend’s house as a kid as he was with his parents there in person, at the final game of the play-offs, and he bought the VCR.”
Simon is president of the Villarreal CF fan club in Slovakia called Penya El Madrigal, and before COVID-19, he organised trips to see the team play once a season. The last game he managed to attend was in the 2019/20 season, watching Villarreal take on RC Celta. He has also seen a number of games in the UK, whether it be in European competition or pre-season friendlies.
Simon says for him, Villarreal is a unique club: “I love how the club is run and that it is a family club that everyone can be a part of. I really value that we, as foreign supporters, are recognised by the club.”
Here at Villarreal CF, through the series ‘Yellows Around The World’, we will tell the stories of some of the Submarine’s biggest international fans.
