Every four years before the start of the FIFA World Cup I usually arrive with a bunch of questions: Who is qualified? Is Italy playing? Will Shakira be performing this year, too? How and in what format will national anthems be performed? How will teams adapt to each other? What colors are their jerseys? Who are team managers and now more exiting, who are the referees? And finally, will Cup Fever, a football show from Australia, be broadcasted here in Canada on YouTube?
For the purposes of my work, I studied this World Cup
sociologically. Many sociological elements were present: Durkheim’s collective
effervescence, Blumer’s symbolic interactionism and Weber’s vocation to name a
few. This year, however, I started with
a self-reflecting question: “Since when did I develop an interest
in the FIFA World Cup and football in general?” A significant question having
in mind that I never attended a football game in my entire life.
My interest in football or soccer, whatever
suits you, dates from a very early age. In my elementary school days back in
New Belgrade, I had a crush on my school friend Dušan. For me, Dušan was the
coolest guy on earth. Super bright, always full of energy and among many things
that made him special is that Dušan played football. To get a bit closer to
him, I managed during our class brakes, usually at noon, to talk with my other
friend, Vladimir, with whom I shared my school table, we used to sit two per
table. Vladimir introduced me to the world of FIFA World Cup, teams, players
and thought me a bit about each country’s style and techniques. I learned that
Italy, Spain, France, and most of the Latin America countries have somehow similar
style of playing, that Hungary used to have a very impressive football team,
that you can expect Germans to score a goal in few millimeters of seconds
before the end of the match and that English are playing long balls stretching
from one goalkeeper to the other. Coming months
or so Vladimir prepared me well. I became somehow an ‘expert’ and managed
during brakes to sneak in the same group with my crush Dušan. We talked about
football players and we even exchanged football stickers. Moreover, I became a
fan of Red Star Belgrade and every four years I cheered for Yugoslavia during FIFA
World Cup.
This 2026 World Cup was a powerful reminder of great memories and a beautiful game that brought us together through dedication, vocation and incredible energy of belonging. This inexplicable energy brough us together, with long distance cheering through different time zones and continents at the same time.
I will forever be grateful to my friend Vladimir and
my dear Dušan for introducing me into football. As for my friend Dušan, he is not
with us anymore as well as our beautiful country that we cheered for. Dušan died on a high school
excursion, as he was going from one balcony to another. These World Cup matches
reminded me of those four years of our elementary school, of my friend’s
energy, brightens, commitment, vocation and his love for football. In those
four years our families became closer. When I told them I had a crush on Dušan,
they asked ‘why Dušan?”, my answer was “because he always comes to our
classroom through the window”.
Dušan
really did enter my life through that school window. May this FIFA World Cup
reflection be dedicated to my dear Dušan and may this memory of him in these uncertain
and unimaginable times be a guiding light. May that window be forever open.
(Cover photo via Pinterest)
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