Why you should pay attention to the player mascots at the World Cup
The kids who accompany football players onto the pitch are walking billboards and usually not more than a footnote to the entire spectacle. But let’s not forget, it’s a dream come true for many children who otherwise would’ve never had the chance to be in a football stadium.
How exciting it must feel to be standing in the players’ tunnel. From outside, where tens of thousands are waiting, noise, light and a tense atmosphere seep in. Football boots clatter down the steps, stress is channelled into well-rehearsed rituals, there’s shouting and clapping, praying and silence – until it finally begins. One step at a time, the big stars and their smaller mascots walk through the tunnel into the spotlight.
Every time Messi, Ronaldo and Lamine Yamal step onto the pitch at the World Cup, they’ll be holding a child’s hand. As every year since 2002, eight- to ten-year-olds are allowed to walk into the stadium alongside the stars at World and European Championships and soak up the atmosphere. They’re carefully selected to make sure they’re neither too tall, nor too short. And they’re told exactly what to do: walk onto the pitch, stand still, wave, walk off.
Source: Maciej Rogowski Photo/Shutterstock
Please break the mould
Despite the detailed briefing, the kids often produce memorable and unplanned moments that are captured by some camera or another. Because kids are kids – they smile, laugh, act out or get overwhelmed by their emotions. Just like the boy in the header image who was the mascot of a Brazilian player at a friendly game. Whenever this happens, I’m curious to see the reactions of the football pros. Some, despite the magnitude of the moment, let their guard down and switch from highly concentrated competition mode to their personable, more human mode. This might be with a gesture –
a wink, a smile or a quick hug – that’s only small, but means the world to the children. Nobody expects them to go as far as tie their mascot’s show laces, as Australian Mark Bresciano did in a kind interaction with a boy on crutches at the 2014 World Cup. There aren’t any videos of this available for free because FIFA guards its image rights like Gollum guards the One Ring. But it doesn’t take a World Cup to make kids lose their composure when they’re next to their idols.
There’s no other place where footballers and fans get so close at the World Cup. This moment, just before kickoff, is the only one where two things that truly belong together come together for a brief moment: the sport and its fans. Time and again, children fall in love with the game on dusty pitches, in backyards or between goals with torn nets. And that’s what makes football so meaningful. Being a player’s mascot is one of the few things you can’t buy at the World Cup, and that’s why I’ll be looking very closely at the kids’ faces. They’ll speak volumes. And those kids are among the lucky ones who don’t have to pay a lot of money for their World Cup experience.
The only chance for local children
At the World Cup, the prices for tickets, parking, train rides and even drinks are absurd. The stands will be filled almost exclusively with rich kids whose parents can easily afford to pay four- to five-figure sums. Being a player mascot, however, is an exception: it doesn’t cost anything. In previous tournaments, this experience was awarded primarily to a select few from around the world, mostly competition winners without any connection to the country or sport.
That’s why one American girl already knows what it’s like to walk onto the pitch with Lionel Messi at a World Cup final: «Before we walked out, he was quiet but he smiled at me and even helped me on the field by turning me the right way, which was really cool!» Kaylie-Jade Plott, who was eight years old at the time, reported about her big moment at the Maracanã. At least she’d known who he was before she met him – from magazines. And, of course, she deserves to have such a great experience.
Source: Jefferson Bernardes/Shutterstock
This year, however, things are done in a better way. Sponsor Quaker, together with Common Goal, Canada Scores and local nonprofit organisations, are allowing 1,700 football-loving children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in the host cities to experience being a player mascot.
The children aren’t just selected randomly, but rewarded for their efforts and good behaviour. «They are going to be seen,» says Adan Gonzalez, who started the Puede Network in Dallas and calls it a place where children realise, «that your ZIP code doesn’t define your destiny.» And the girl in the video says excitedly, «I’ve been playing soccer since I was three years old.»
We’ve seen such stories at previous tournaments, but on a smaller scale. This time, more children are given a once-in-a-lifetime experience – children who didn’t just happen to win the first prize in some sponsor’s raffle. That doesn’t make all the money-grabbing going on around the World Cup any better, but it’s a nice aspect of the tournament.
All mascot children live in the area, often on the outskirts, and aren’t shut out of this massive event. Instead, they’re allowed to take centre stage for a few minutes. Their personal stories don’t have to be broadcast to the entire world for that one moment to mean the world to the children. Every now and then, when the camera pans down, we’ll be able to see it on TV.
Simple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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