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Hello, David from France here, a football fan in general, a FIFA World Cup fan in particular

This page you’re seeing now is part of the AllezLesFans section of my website, so, if you want to find out more about me and my football story, feel free to check it out

But first of all, it should be noted that I have already posted on social networks about this World Cup, and will do so much more once it has started

For everything directly related to football, it will be on @AllezLesFans (links provided above)

And for things more related to tourism I have another channel, @ExploreFeelGood (links provided below)

So make sure you follow them both, the best option in my opinion is to do it on Instagram, because there I can post content that is more diverse, and more interactive too, but as you can see, I am kind of everywhere anyway

📌 Follow @ExploreFeelGood on social media

Qatar 2022: Now is all!

With that being said, let’s rollback a bit:

When I started to post publicly, late 2017, I did so as @ExploreFeelGood, creating & publishing content related to both travels & football, on Instagram & Facebook

Exactly 4 years later, late 2021 then, I’ve launched, alongside, @AllezLesFans, to have a dedicated platform to football, and where I could mainly post about the 2022 FIFA World Cup to start with

Since then, I’ve connected with fellow football fans from around the world, to:

– let them know about me & my content

– create collaborative content with them

– meet up with them in Qatar during the tournament, celebrating the beautiful game, together

In March 2022 I joined the Qatar Fan Leader Network, launched by the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and Qatar Football Association (QFA)

Here is the press release made by the Supreme Committee about this program, in October 2022:

« The Fan Leader Network was set up to engage and communicate directly with football fans worldwide who may have an interest in learning more about the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Fans are the cornerstone for any successful tournament and through this network of over 450 individuals from 59 nations we have been able to understand how fans from a vast variety of footballing cultures enjoy sporting events and offered them direct access to tournament organisers to share their feedback and ask questions about the tournament and host country.

Our fan leaders are made up of superfans, regular football tournament attendees, grassroots football enthusiasts and official and unofficial fan group members who have all expressed an interest in learning more about the tournament and the host country. It is an unpaid and voluntary role.

As the tournament nears, we have invited our most active fan leaders to personally nominate a small selection of fans to join us as our guests and participate in the opening ceremony for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, as a manner of thanking them for their collaboration and recognising their role as leaders within their communities.

Additional information:

The network is a diverse selection of over 450 fans from 59 nations who have collaborated to:

• Consult and give feedback on a variety of services and products the host country will provide
• Ask questions about the tournament and host country
• Attend workshops on fan related topics such as ticketing
• Get advice on setting up fan organized events or activities during the tournament
• Attend delegations during the FIFA Arab Cup, FIFA World Cup Final Draw and the Lusail Super Cup
• Communicate questions, concerns and ideas from other fans in their own personal networks »

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As for my personal story with this program, it all started late February 2022, when the Supreme Committee launched a contest, called « The Super Fan Competition », for a chance offered to the best football fans from around the world to attend the FIFA World Cup final draw, and much more

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Candidates were offered to prove they were super football fans, by demonstrating one of the following:

– Allegiance to their national team (« What does your national team stand for? How can you demonstrate how you live up to the values of your team? »)
– FIFA World Cup™ tournaments they have attended (« Provide evidence from every world cup you have attended. Tickets subs and images are required as evidence »)
– Football’s power to unite and how they’ve been inspired (« Football unites communities and countries as the passion for the game transcends boundaries. Demonstrate how you have been inspired by football to bring people together to celebrate the love of the game)

No matter the category, they would be required to « provide evidence to demonstrate one of such entry requirements in the form of a video, letter, song, animation, or any other appropriate form »

As I was highly motivated, and was sure to be a great fit for all 3 categories, I decided to work on them all, and created dedicated pages to be able to express myself better, mixing text, videos, pictures, links…
It took me 4 full days to set it up, without being sure of the outcome, but I could not not give my best for the opportunity of a lifetime, and anyway I thought it would be a great way to finally share my (love) story with football in general, Les Bleus and the FIFA World Cups in particular, by sharing those pages with more people later on

Which is exactly what I’ve since then done, reshaping those 3 pages to make them up-to-date and worth reading for anyone, and here they are:

– Football’s power to unite & how I’ve been inspired, #WeLiveFootball

– Passion & dedication to the France national team, #AllezLesBleus

– FIFA World Cup tournaments I’ve attended, #TheCupOfLife

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And luckily, I was among the 34 Super Fans, the only one from France, who won that worldwide competition, which meant being invited to Qatar to attend the final draw of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and much more, with a 6-day long stay, that included: 

– football activities: visiting stadiums, playing football with legends (such as 1998 world champion Marcel Desailly, but also Tim Cahill or Yaya Touré), shooting a promotional video for the WC, attending the final draw (after walking the red carpet)
– touristic activities: dhow boat cruise, kayaking in the mangrove, dune bashing, leisure time at a beach resort, visits of museums, wandering around the souk, food tasting
– and of course an opportunity to socialize & brainstorm with fellow @RoadTo2022 fan leaders, coming from around the world and especially from qualified countries, to get the best fan experience possible for all during the World Cup

During that stay, as the enthusiastic person / football fan / world traveler / content creator I am, I chose to attend all the activities that were offered to me, and indeed I felt like taking lots of pictures & videos

And once back home, after having enjoyed my time there to the fullest, I decided (like I always do after such a trip, no matter if it was a collab or not), at my own pace, in my own style, to create & share online lots of content, diverse & engaging, also making a point to answer every single question my audience could have for me, be it in public or private

On my accounts dedicated to football (@AllezLesFans), I’ve then showcased football related activities (such as the final draw, the game between legends & fan leaders, and the promotional video we shot)

And on my accounts dedicated to travels(@ExploreFeelGood), I’ve showcased the touristic side of Qatar (such as camping in the desert by the beach, kayaking, and taking a dhow cruise)

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I’ve also been working behind the scenes with the Supreme Committee (SC) and hence the Qatar 2022 Local Organizing Committee (LOC)

Here are some examples:

– Helping find the young French fan who had caused a sensation during the 2018 FIFA World Cup final, to get him invited to Qatar to go on stage during the final draw, where he sang his heart out next to Didier Deschamps and the trophy, making it one of the highlights of the event, a suprising performance that was much talked about around the world, in the positive way indeed

– Helping in the recruitment of fellow fan leaders, including for the draw reaction video, with a good friend of mine making it to the video posted on the @RoadTo2022 channels, and also making it to the newsletter

– Brainstorming with some fellow fan leaders, and our respective fan groups, to list questions about Qatar & this World Cup, and sent them in a written form, before doing so with a few of them in a video format, so fans would get all the accurate information that would  help them go and stay in Qatar

– Helping develop the Hayya mobile application, to cater to the needs of fans, thanks to a 1-on-1 test & feedback live session

– Helping craft a plan for the Trophy Tour in Paris, by sharing what my thoughts about fans’ expectations for such event, and giving examples of what I had seen elsewhere and could be put to good use

Also, having joined the FIFA Fan Movement in 2018, the year of its creation, I naturally have been working on some projects with them about Qatar 2022, especially after being invited to join the exclusive Fan Experience Panel

It’s been about the semi-automated offside technology (before it would be launched for the very first time), the Trophy Tour (that would happen around the world before the tournament), the Fan Fest (that would be offered during the tournament), the FIFA+ app (that’s there for everyone)…

Basically we would be presented a theme or idea, and asked to give input of what we thought about what was already in place or offered and how things could be even better from a fan perspective

I’ve created lots of content, to post on my own channels, but also for collaborative publications (with the Supreme Committee on some occasions, with the FIFA Fan Movement on some others). For instance :

– I’ve been taking part to the challenges offered by the Supreme Committee, with videos & posts to help promote the tournament, giving my best in each of them, like for the Fan Dance (with my clip used for the music video broadcasted at the end of the Final Draw ceremony), the « 200 days to go – Now is All », « The teams have been drawn – Predictions », and the « 100 Days To Go »

– I’ve been helping the FIFA Fan Movement also with such type of videos, like for their “1 year to go” video, and the one about “football dreams for 2022”

– I’ve reformated & shared FIFA posts such as the one that was announcing the first phase of the ticketing sales… in which I actually had the good surprise to appear, with a clip from 2018 when I was live on TV during a game celebrating a goal scored by Les Bleus

– I’ve created tutorials, for instance to explain how to actually apply for match tickets

I’ve attended the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour in Paris, France
The French stopover was part of a journey which, for the first time, offered fans from all 32 qualified nations the chance to see football’s biggest prize up close
Some events were open to all fans, while some others were only for « VIPs », such as content creators, and that’s how I got to see it all

I’ve bought plenty of tickets myself, more than for any other tournament I’ve attended before, planning to be in Qatar for the whole month of the World Cup, and to attend at least 1 game in each of the 8 stadiums hosting the tournament, at least 1 game every single day of the group phase (sometimes 2), every single game of my national team, France (all the way to the final if Les Bleus make it, thanks to conditional tickets), the opening game & ceremony, and plenty of teams (most likely more than 20)…

I will also be volunteer at at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
FIFA had received over 420,000 applications, and out of them 20,000 were chosen (5,000 coming from outside Qatar), after having gone through an application form, online trials, and a group interview
And I’ll be part of this volunteer team, having been offered to be a Spectator Services Volunteer, at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, which mission I will be able to fulfill without discarding my other plans
If I had already been a volunteer for an international sports event, the UEFA Euro 2016 in France, this will be my first time for FIFA, first time for a World Cup, first time for an event outside my home country… yet again a great adventure to come

Since for me going to World Cups also means representing my country, France, I make a point to do so in a very visual manner too
So, when I knew I would go to Qatar for the final draw and to join a fan delegation, I got more fan gear than I already was known for… and now in preparation to the World Cup by itself I’ve expanded again the collection

I’ve already talked to media, French & Qatari ones, about the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, like when I was invited to the final draw
And I’m happy to take benevolent media requests, in different languages (in English obviously, and in French of course, but also in Spanish & Portuguese, and even in Italian eventually; I also know a few words in some more languages, but clearly not enough to give an interview… but most likely enough to make journalists and viewers/readers smile :D)

Finally, as for me a FIFA World Cup is the number one event in the world, that I mark long before on my calendar, I was gonna make it to Qatar 2022 in any case

But I have to say that with its compact nature (and hence the possibility to attend several games a day, and celebrate the game & life with fans from all around the world every day during the month-long event), and the fact that it will be the first FIFA World Cup organized in the Arab World, and also the first in the Middle East (parts of the world that I have a soft spot for, for having spent several months around as a traveler), it’s gonna be a special one already for me, and it already has been, with my participation to the final draw, my work behind the scenes with the FIFA Fan Movement & Qatar Fan Leader Network, and my social media content & contacts

So, indeed, I will be in Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup 

Will YOU?

If so, looking forward to meet up!

Anyone is welcome to contact me on social media, on any social media, taking into account that Instagram is the one I use the most & by far, and is hence to be favored for a quicker answer

As for media & business inquiries, you can also reach me by email if you prefer

Talk to YOU / See YOU soon,

David 🙂

PS: As a reminder, this is just part of my football story, you can find out more at explorefeelgood.com/allezlesfans/en

📌 Follow @AllezLesFans on social media