FOR football fans across Saudi Arabia, June 23 was an important date this year as the Saudi team took the field in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
In addition to the team members, coaches and support staff, Saudi Arabia had three little ambassadors on hand to escort the players onto the field.
Feras Mohammed Neyas of Jeddah, Salman Al-Dawood of Al-Kharj and Jamal Al-Johali of Jubail were among several GCC youngsters aged 6-10 who got the honor of walking onto the football field with the Saudi World Cup Team after winning a contest sponsored by the McDonald’s restaurant chain.
The contest, held in the month leading up to the beginning of World Cup play, offered prizes to restaurant patrons. The grand prizes were all-expenses paid trips to the World Cup for the winning youngsters along with their parents or guardians.
“I was counting the days till I entered the field,” an excited Feras said. “I still can’t believe I was there with the players standing at the heart of the stadium on match day.”
The highlight of the trip most certainly was that moment entering the stadium to the cheers of a crowd of 46,000, but there were many other memorable moments for the youngsters and their families as well.
A variety of activities and tours were organized for the youngsters and their families, from a “Junior World Cup” football match to trips to enjoy the area’s natural beauty.
In the junior match, German children assigned to escort the Spanish team went up against the GCC kids. For the parents, even the youthful football match was an eye-opener.
“For Feras, football didn’t mean all that much before,” said his mother. “After watching him play in Germany with the other kids, I think this event gave him a love of sports in general and football in particular. Now I’m going to make it a priority to get him involved in more sports activities.”
On match day, youngsters arose with the rising sun to get ready for the main event. At 9 a.m., youngsters from around the globe met for a McDonald’s breakfast before heading to the stadium to rehearse their parts in the fanfare.
At 4:45 p.m., the youngsters escorted the Saudi World Cup team onto the field, walking hand in hand with the Kingdom’s top footballers. Impressive as the stadium crowd of 46,000 was, more impressive were the millions of viewers tuned in around the globe to witness one of sport’s greatest moments.
After their escort duties were done, the youngsters got some choice seats to watch the football action with their parents.
“This program offered children in our Kingdom an exclusive opportunity,” said Abdulrahman Alireza, developmental licensee and general manager of McDonald’s in the Kingdom’s Western Region.
“They got to see the World Cup event from a different and unique perspective.”
In eight or 12 years, will these youngsters return to future World Cup action donning the green jerseys of the Saudi World Cup Team?
Only time will tell, but one thing is certain, they have already become a part of World Cup history and spread Saudi good will among the nations of the world.