Thousands of people from around the world joined an extraordinarily motivated group of over 16,000 volunteers at the Lusail Stadium for the formal orientation event, a joyous ceremony involving football greats and FIFA World Cup 2022TM top brass.
Nasser Al Khater, the chief executive officer of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, stated that “volunteering and the volunteering program is a very significant aspect of any mega-event, and for us, for the World Cup, the demand of individuals wanting to volunteer is immense. Over 500,000 people have applied to volunteer; this is a significant volunteer initiative.
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Speaking to media on the sidelines of the ceremony, Al Khater said they have been screening volunteer applications for half a year through interviews and selection. Four thousand more overseas volunteers will join the programme, aside from the 20,000 local volunteers.
Nationals of 180 countries from six continents, as well as people of all ages and genders, make up the volunteers. “They will be everywhere — in stadiums; they will be working in public areas where all the fans will be; you can see them in the FIFA fan festival, and airports as well. Volunteers are gonna be all around,” Al Khater added.
The CEO said the orientation event was also important as it was a “good test for the stadium”.
He said the volunteers had undergone basic online trainings and that yesterday’s orientation went into greater detail about their roles, responsibilities, and tasks. “It’s a continuous process that’s gonna take place until the World Cup. We have a great new volunteer training centre which is big, and it’s gonna be packed everyday for training.”
Yesterday’s event marked the first time that all selected volunteers were assembled together for the formal start of their training journey and a momentous opportunity to reflect on the road ahead.
A highlight of the evening was the official volunteer uniform reveal. Styled in the signature volunteer colours of black, white, mint and purple, the adidas-designed outfits bear the brand’s triple-stripe detail and a distinctive heart logo design to represent the volunteer spirit. Volunteers are fitted from top to bottom with a full wardrobe of caps, long and short sleeve tops, jackets, pants, socks and shoes, plus optional head scarves for female volunteers.
The event was led by hosts Abood Afro and Anshou Jain, mixing dance performances and video highlight reels with messages of encouragement from English football superstar David Beckham and Australia’s top World Cup scorer, former Aussie national Tim Cahill.
The event-filled evening was aimed at building a greater sense of community and helping everyone become more familiar with their respective activities across 45 different functional roles by giving them a glimpse of the challenges and the rewards in store.
Over the course of the evening, the full scope of the volunteer journey was delivered through entertaining video presentations which included an introduction to the e-learning platform where volunteers receive general subject training in topics such as sustainability, cultural awareness and customer services in order to better perform their basic service role. Through the new platform, volunteers will have access to a key informational resource and e-learning modules that allow them to prepare themselves for their roles at their own convenience and regardless of locale, for the many volunteers arriving from abroad.
For the next stages of the volunteer journey, volunteers will start their general and role-specific training online and venue training at the actual sites where they will be based and perform their roles. The in-person venue-specific training is one of the final stages, which gives volunteers a hands-on taste of the tasks they will be performing in the actual venues where they will be assigned. Colin Smith, FIFA’s Chief Operating Officer – World Cup, described the volunteers as the “heart of the tournament”.
“We’ve been able to group all the volunteers, giving the compact nature of Qatar; we’ve been able to group all the host country volunteers, transport volunteers, event volunteers — and that’s simply how resulted in this huge programme of 20,000; that’s amazing, when they are all wearing this kit – it’ll be easy to spot.”
According to Smith, volunteers are essential to the event’s success. “They perform essential operational duties and assistance for us, including work at the media center, stadiums, and airport arrivals. At the World Cup, they perform a wide range of tasks.
While saying that volunteering for the World Cup was a “unique experience,” Tim Cahill
It’s really wonderful that we can describe the influence and importance of the volunteers, according to Tim Cahill, who added that participating in the tournament as a volunteer is like “being part of the largest spectacle on earth.”
