We wrote the following on the online version of the Seaside Gazette on the 10th of last month:

How would you like to get up close the World Cup trophy? You would? Well, now’s your chance, as it will be on show at the Almuñécar Casa de la Cultura on the 17th of February from between 17.00h to 22.00h and that’s it, so don’t miss this opportunity!
Kudos to the Sport Councillor for being on the ball and requesting its appearance, back in August. Almuñécar will be the first municipality in the province to have the honour.
The Trophy in question, which was first used in 1974 in Germany, is of 18-carat gold and represents two human figures holding up the globe.

We would have loved to be able to announce what was going to happen in the hardcopy version, but we didn’t receive the news until the magazine was already out on the streets.

When the big day came around, around 6,000 people turned up to have a photograph taken with the cup in the background. People came from neighbouring Nerja as well as inland (Durcal).

The Chairman of the Federación Andaluza de Fútbol, Eduardo Herrera, said that Almuñécar deserved to be chosen as the stopover of the World Cup as it made its way around Andalucía, because of its close collaboration with the Federation and the high level of sporting events held here.

The kids loved it, as did the adults, of course. Nobody believed, prior to the World Cup in the Summer, that Spain would be the winner, after disappointment time and time again, so being able to see the trophy close up, and in some cases even hold it, was the culmination of a dream come true.