Getafe don't need 'hot zombies' to attract fans this season

A few years ago, Getafe released a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign to try to increase one of the smallest fanbases in the Spanish league.

The idea was to encourage supporters to donate sperm and breed more fans for the club, and for inspiration it produced a short Getafe-themed adult movie.

The plot involved "strange events" that transformed some female supporters into what it called the "Hot Zombies of Getafe."

Getafe's Leandro Daniel Cabrera, foreground, fights for the ball with Real Madrid's Dani Carvajal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Getafe and Real Madrid at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoBernat Armangue)

The club used the online publicity stunt as a way to invite fans to enroll as members, saying that by "being more, we'll be bigger."

It's not clear if the X-rated campaign in the early 2010s directly led to an increase in membership, or just made the club notorious.

This year, though, the back-to-modest club from south Madrid is attracting fans by a much more traditional approach: Playing good soccer.

Getafe's Leandro Daniel Cabrera, left, fights for the ball with Real Madrid's Dani Carvajal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Getafe and Real Madrid at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoBernat Armangue)

Getafe is enjoying its best season ever in the Spanish league and is on the verge of securing a Champions League spot for the first time in its 36-year history. It has been stealing headlines from powerhouses Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid because of what it's doing on the field, not off of it.

Getafe enters the second-to-last round in the fourth — and final — Champions League place, holding on to a three-point advantage over Sevilla and Valencia. A draw this weekend in its visit to champion Barcelona, which is expected to rest its regular starters after the loss to Liverpool in the semifinals of the Champions League, coupled with losses by Sevilla and Valencia, will be enough for Getafe to secure the berth. Sevilla has a difficult match at second-placed Atletico Madrid, while Valencia hosts Alaves.

Getafe has already clinched a Europa League spot, a feat it hasn't achieved since 2010.

Real Madrid's Brahim Diaz, left, fights for the ball with Getafe's Leandro Daniel Cabrera during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Getafe and Real Madrid at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoBernat Armangue)

"It was unthinkable that Getafe would be fighting for a spot in the European competitions," coach Jose Bordalas said after a 2-0 win at Girona on Sunday. "We have to enjoy it. It's something historic, fantastic. Everyone knew that our goal in the beginning of the season was just to avoid relegation."

Bordalas can be directly linked to the team's rapid rise to glory, as he took over Getafe in the relegation zone of the second division early in the 2016-17 season.

The 55-year-old manager immediately revamped the club and led it back to the first division, where it finished eighth last season as one of the league's sensations. Its best finish is sixth, in 2010.

Real Madrid's Dani Carvajal, right, fights for the ball with Getafe's Leandro Daniel Cabrera, left, and Getafe's goalkeeper David Soria during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Getafe and Real Madrid at the Alfonso Perez stadium in Getafe, Spain, Thursday, April 25, 2019. (AP PhotoBernat Armangue)

Getafe, which has one of the league's smallest budgets, got off to a slow start this season but gradually climbed, and has stayed in the top six since the league's halfway point. It has held to fourth place for 11 of the last 12 rounds, thanks to results that included a 3-0 rout of Sevilla and a 0-0 draw against Real Madrid, both at the team's 17,000-capacity Coliseum Alfonso Perez stadium.

The team has been led by players such as defender Dakonam Djene, touted as a top transfer prospect, and goalkeeper David Soria, who used to thrive with Sevilla. They are part of a defensive system that has conceded only 31 goals in 36 matches, second only to Atletico Madrid's. The attack has veteran Jorge Molina, Angel Rodriguez, and Jaime Mata, who recently was called up by Spain.

Getafe was founded in 1983 and it first made it to the first division in 2004. It entered the spotlight of Spanish football for the first time in 2007, when it reached the first of two consecutive Copa del Rey finals — losses to Sevilla and Valencia.

Now it has two matches — at Barcelona and against relegation-threatened Villarreal at home in the last round — to earn its biggest achievement since then.

"We will remain ambitious," Bordalas said. "We got here through our own merits, now we want to finish the job."

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RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.

In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.

Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.

“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.

If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.

For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.

“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.

Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.

"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.

Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.

Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.

Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.

The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.

“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.

As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.

What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.

The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.

One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.

Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.

“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.

The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.

Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.

“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.

Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.

“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)