Anthony Harwood:
A Bangladeshi worker helping to build the 2022 World Cup had the trip of a lifetime when he was taken to the opening match of the tournament in Russia.
Siraiul Islam Howlader was among eight workers from Qatar invited to accompany the former Barcelona star, Xavi Hernandez, to Moscow.
Xavi is global ambassador for the tournament which the tiny Gulf state will host in four years’ time and head of the Generation Amazing programme, which is helping build football at grassroots level.
During their five-day trip to Russia, the group attended the opening ceremony and first match of the tournament at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium which saw the hosts beat Saudi Arabia 5-0.
Siraiul said: ‘I was so excited to be in the stadium. Before this I watched four World Cups tournaments on TV. Our house in the village had no television, so we had to go to a friend’s house to watch the games. Now ‘Generation Amazing’ has brought me here, to Moscow, to see my first match in person.’
Among the party were also workers from Ghana, Sri Lanka and India who were all hand-picked because of their work as soccer coaches in Doha.
Generation Amazing, which was set up by Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, hopes to benefit a million people around the world by 2022 by promoting football at grassroots level.
Siraiul added: ‘ I came to Qatar for work. I never thought I would go to a World Cup. Generation Amazing and my company QDVC sent me to the World Cup, and not many form my country get to see this great event. We have already started on a small scale with Generation Amazing balls and bibs in my village, through my brother who has taken the programme there. This is about passing on what you have learnt, and helping others to improve their lives’.
Xavi, who won the World Cup with Spain in 2010 and met up with Russian youth footballers during the trip, said: ‘We have workers here from Qatar, but the programme also helps people in their home countries. As the word says, I think this programme is spectacular, so I am proud to have shared this experience with this group.
‘To be at the World Cup is a once in a lifetime experience, and I too am learning a lot every day from all those taking part in the fantastic project’.
Dawood Irfan, from India, said: ‘One of the best experiences of this trip was being with Xavi. He is a big star but very down to earth, we got to know him well in the workshops and he shared his experiences and his challenges, as well as how he overcame them. It inspires me to be part of this project. Football breaks down all the barriers’.
Qatar will also be taking sixteen youth ambassadors from Qatar, India, The Philippines, Nepal and Pakistan to the Russia tournament.
