Each hobby has a nickname or nickname to represent its football club. Many of these names arise from their origin, the city of the sports entity or the colors of their shirts.
Atlético de Madrid, one of the oldest clubs in Spain, founded in 1903. The red and white colors of its main jersey make its players known as the rojiblancos. But where do names like Colchoneros and Indians come from?
Atlético de Madrid fans are called colchoneros for a detail that has to do with the team’s colors. This pseudonym was born in the years after the Spanish civil war, which took place between 1936 and 1939. The covers that were used to cover mattresses in Spain at the time had red and white stripes. These fabrics were reminiscent of the club’s recognizable striped shirt.
Atlético de Madrid fans and players are also nicknamed Indians. There are different theories about the origin of this name, according to the official La Liga website. One of them indicates that the team signed several players of South American origin in the 60s and 70s. Some fans began to call them that way.
Hugo Sánchez arrived at the team in the 80s. The Mexican inherited this nickname, which was used by his opponents, sometimes in a derogatory way. When he left for Real Madrid, the nickname passed to the squad and the fans. In fact, the club’s mascot is called Indi.
Another theory indicates that the nickname Indians arises from the location of the Vicente Calderón, which was the Atlético de Madrid stadium between 1966 and 2017. Its location on the banks of the Manzanares would have been associated with the establishment of the Indian tribes along the rivers, while the red and white uniform remembered these towns.
