FIFA World Cup™ tournaments I’ve attended

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 Qatar 2022 Super Fan Competition – My application(s)

Here precisely I would like to tell you about my story with FIFA World Cup tournaments I’ve attended… so far (definitely Qatar 2022 will be the next one!)

The first international football (and even sports in general) game I’ve ever attended actually was a FIFA World Cup game
It was back in 2006
I was able to secure only 1 ticket during the random selection draw sales period, and 1 only, not even for my national team, and yet I decided to go, and to spend there the whole length of the tournament
I arrived in Germany the day before the opening game day, and left the day after the final
On match days, I would go in front of stadiums to try to find last-minute tickets, and in the end was able to attend not just 1 but 9 games!
I would take the train every single day, or rather said, night, sleeping in it, even though just sitting, so I could be every single day in a city where a game would happen, and enjoy the best FIFA world cup atmosphere, on the streets to start the day, and then I would try to find a cheap ticket, and if I wouldn’t I would enjoy games at an official FIFA Fan Fest™

From then on, I decided I would attend every FIFA Men’s World Cup
Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it to South Africa in 2010, because of a major health issue (no worries, all good now)
But I did attend the Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018 ones, again for the whole length of the tournaments. With bigger countries, and hitchhiking around, I would not be able to attend as many games as I wished, but still, got to see 6 and 9 games live at the stadium

And in 2019, I attended my first FIFA Women’s World Cup, again from the very first day until the very last one, with a personal attendance record of 18 games

So, 4 tournaments, all from the very beginning until the very end, and 42 games live at the stadium, in 27 different cities… and many more at « FIFA Fan Fest » and « FIFA Fan Experience », in 25 different cities

Here is a gallery of 42 pictures, with one pic a game I’ve attended during FIFA World Cup
You can see the following ones by clicking on the bottom right of this unit
You can see each picture in full size by clicking on it

So far, I’ve already been to 25 « FIFA Fan Fest » and « FIFA Fan Experience »
I was lucky enough to attend my first FIFA World Cup the year of the creation of such Fan Fests, and I make a point to go there as often as possible, as after stadiums it’s the best place to watch matches live, while also enjoying an exciting mix of cultural and entertainment activities
Here is a slideshow of 25 pics, with one pic a city
You can pause it by hovering your mouse over a picture, and if you actually click on one you’ll be able to see details if you’re interested (tournament and city)

Since I became a content creator and blogger late 2017, there’s been 2 FIFA World Cups that I could attend, Russia 2018 and France 2019, and indeed have posted about both

Below are images with hyperlinks
By clicking on one of them you’ll be sent to the corresponding Instagram « Guide »
There are listed posts I’ve made about these events, by clicking on an image you’ll be redirected to the corresponding publication

In 2018, even though I wasn’t a FIFA Fan Movement member yet, a picture of mine was picked up by FIFA
It was a 360 photo, that I published on my social media as a reframed « little planet », and that was featured in “FIFA 1904” magazine, “The future is here” August 2018 edition, to illustrate their “Giving the fans a voice” article

And once a FIFA Fan Movement member, I’ve contributed to the collective publications on many occasions, such as with this Fan Cam about France 2019’s opening game

In addition, I’ll share with you some independent media appearances of mine, one for each FIFA World Cup, as another way to show you about my participation
For the record, I actually have had plenty more media attention, with pictures of me or/and articles talking about me in newspapers, with my face shown worldwide during some games, with TV interviews, with radio interviews and shows, etc., and you can find some on my « Dedication and allegiance to my national team » page

2006, my first FIFA World Cup ever (and first major sports tournament actually), and I get my first media appearance already, in Le Parisien, a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, on the eve of the final

Fast forward to 2014, my second FIFA World Cup, and I would now appear live on TV during games, appear in a lifestyle TV show about foreign fans in Brazil, be interviewed for an international newspaper, and interviewed several times for TV stations from different parts of the world…
Here is one example

Then things went to the next level, for Russia 2018, with still random appearances during live games, but also many more interviews for newspapers, centered around my adventure, and one with my picture for the front page, many more video interviews, some quick live ones but also some recorded in length, eventually following me around the country, in addition to a radio show, and more, answering in French, English, Spanish and even Russian a bit

And then came 2019 and my first FIFA Women’s World Cup, indeed once again giving interviews, but actually this time doing so not only to share my passion and adventures, but also to help promote women’s football

And if I haven’t talked to media yet about the upcoming FIFA World Cup, my image has already been used for Qatar 2022, when FIFA put to good use a clip from Russia 2018 semi-final during which I appeared live around the world in the center of the frame, to promote the ticketing opening of the next World Cup
It has to be a sign that I should be there 🙂

And indeed, I’ve already personally started to promote the event, by posting on my own social media, but also by creating content for the FIFA Fan Movement to gather and publish

Plus France won the last FIFA Men’s World Cup, and I was there in Russia for all of their, I mean, « all of our » 7 games, so I really must be in Qatar to help my team defends its chances of lifting again the most beautiful trophy in the world
And that adventure starts with the draw, on April 1st, 2022
So, I really feel like I have to be there
Hence this application in which I’ve given it all, as I do for everything I care about, which is what I feel for football in general, FIFA World Cups and my national team  in particular
So, see you?
See you!
David 🙂

PS: I do hope that this page was enough to help you realize I’m an ideal fit for what you’re offering, but in case you needed more, or if you just wanted to get to know me even more before we would meet (my pleasure), as a reminder I’ve actually answered all 3 challenges, and you can find them all linked here