Manolo el del bombo

Manuel Cáceres Artesero (15 January 1949 – 1 May 2025), better known as Manolo el del Bombo (English: Manolo the Bass Drummer), was described as one of the most famous football fans in Spain.

Biography Raised in Huesca, he was Valencia CF's and the Spain national football team's most famous supporter.

At the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, he hitchhiked 15,800 kilometers in order to follow his team and to show that nobody else paid his travel expenses.

He owned the bar Tu Museo Deportivo next to the Estadio Mestalla, which doubled as a sports museum. It was closed in 2011.

Manolo was not allowed to bring his bass drum to the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches in Russia, so he decided to no longer travel abroad with the drum.

Manolo died from respiratory problems in Villareal, on 1 May 2025, at the age of 76. His family suspects that the major blackout that hit the country on 28 April may have affected him directly.