Foosball Champion’s Promise: Emotional Story of a Biscayan Winner

At 48 years old, the life of Miguel Ángel – better known as Mikel or ‘Mikelito’ – could be divided into two parts: before and after the death of his father. A loss that left him very touched twelve years ago and “without wanting anything.” He took refuge in table football, a game that his father, who emigrated from Lugo to the Basque Country, taught him, and which ended up being his therapy. What’s more, a way of life.

Mikel imitated his father when he was little and later when he went to the arcades with his friends as a kid. He was “good” compared to his colleagues, but nothing to do with what the future held for him. But that would be later, because at the age of 20 he put his hobby aside.

In 2013, when Mikel was 36 years old, his life changed completely. His aita, a firefighter stationed in the Urioste park, a “giant of almost two meters”, a chain smoker who always said “I will stop smoking the day I die”, began to chain together bad health diagnoses. A serious warning that helped him quit tobacco.

He overcame throat cancer and shortly after a heart problem was detected during a routine work checkup that forced him to undergo surgery. “There was a one in a thousand chance that he would have a stroke during the operation and he did,” his son recalls. The man survived, but shortly after the family received a new blow. “We were watching a Cup match and he started vomiting blood,” he says. He had lung cancer.

Mikel saw that strong man shrink physically, lose his strength. Not even his weak condition stopped him from helping his family. “He did the cooking with me,” Mikel recalls. When he died everything fell apart. The young man sank.

Anxiety, depression, almost a year locked up. “I was just going to work and back home, I didn’t feel like doing anything.” On weekends he would dress up to go out with his friends, but when he was ready, he wouldn’t walk through the door. Depressed, he saw his family also hurt. “I started to have fears, fear of driving, of everything related to death,” says this Biscayan, who also stopped smoking when he saw his grandmother’s suffering.

“All families have problems,” he says, but in his life was dominated by health. His two younger brothers, Roberto and Josune, had gone through the same thing: he was born with his intestine out and that also affected Mikel when he was a kid.

An invitation that rescued him

Two decades after moving away from table football, his best friend proposed a plan with his respective girlfriends: go to a tournament that was held in Barakaldo. When they walked through the door they ran into players wearing jerseys and other paraphernalia. “We got shit when we saw it and left.” But a week later they went to another competition and, this time, they did not collapse. Against all odds they beat the champions of Bizkaia. Then they fell, yes, but they left the premises smiling.

Mikel needed something to keep him upright. Foosball became that. He started traveling: Santander, Logroño, Benidorm… In each tournament he grew a little more. He won championships (eight in Bizkaia, 2024 World Cup, 4th in the European…), made friends, recorded games, took photos and won over everyone. So much so that he has received trophies for “the most beloved player.” He has 30,000 followers on TikTok, a community that embraced him during his worst years. And, above all, he fulfilled the promise he made to his father: to be a recognized player.

His teacher did not share his successes and Mikel always carried that mourning in silence. For years he did not set foot in Mieira, the Galician town where the family still has a house. «I didn’t want to go without feeling like I had achieved something. “I had to show him.” In fact, he never even set foot in the cemetery where he is buried in Bizkaia.

Coincidences of life, he participated in a tournament in Mieira. In the intermediate category he reached two finals, in the moving and standing modalities. He didn’t win, but it was enough for him. It was after that moment that he took the step and went to the cemetery with his son. Among the tombstones, he felt like he had come full circle.

Recognized player

His name was beginning to be heard throughout Spain. Renowned players, such as Manuel Amaia Mateo, five-time world champion, left him a professional table football worth 4,000 euros, made of carbon fiber and with advanced technology. “So you can train,” he told him. Another friend, Fer, from Lugo, gave him another one. His skill grew. At the Val Infinity 2024 World Cup, in Zaragoza, he competed alongside Bruno, a 12-year-old boy from León. They won the gold medal in both the standing and moving modes, in the third category.

His hobby not only gave him back the competition: it gave him his life. It got him out of confinement, anxiety, fear, grief. It gave him friends, travel, a community… and a reason to keep going. When Mikel stands in front of the table football, he doesn’t play alone. He plays with the memory of his father, with the child who watched him play, with the man who believed he would never raise his head.