When the World Cup started following my travels
And what I've learnt myself, by learning to love the world game
Some people travel around the world to watch World Cup football games every four years. And some people have my weird experience instead: the World Cup chased me!
I grew up in 1980s Australia when football - which we call soccer because otherwise it’s easily confused with Australian rules football, which is completely different - was a niche sport played mostly by European migrant communities, and I was never even introduced to it at school.
I knew this round-balled sport existed, but I didn’t realise that the World Cup existed. And when I lived in Japan in 2002, I had no idea what it meant that the World Cup was being co-hosted that year by Japan and South Korea. Some of my students mentioned the games they’d watched but you have to remember, these were pre social media days, even early internet days, and I didn’t really understand what a big deal it was.
Landing in South Korea during the World Cup finals
My first real inkling that this World Cup thing was quite well-known was when I landed in Incheon airport near Seoul in late June, 2002.
I was there to spend a few days in South Korea, on leave from my teaching job in Japan. As per our usual travelling style back then, my boyfriend and I had nothing booked. No plans, no accommodation, we just had our flights and some time off work.
So there we were in Incheon airport, every corner devoted to information for World Cup travellers, and we suddenly realised we might have made a grave error. Football-lovers from all over the world were still pouring into Seoul to watch the last games in the World Cup. Would there be no room at the inn?
Rather than just taking the train directly into Seoul and wandering with our guidebook to pick a place to stay (as we usually would have), we ended up at a visitor desk in the airport to book some accommodation. We were lucky - perhaps most of the World Cup visitors were looking for fancier places to stay and there was a room left at a small budget hotel in the centre, near Tapgol Park. Phew!
Becoming a Reds fan
It didn’t long for the spirit of the World Cup to seep into my soul (in Seoul, yep!). There was so much excitement in the city, both because the locals were thrilled to be hosting the World Cup, and because the South Korean were doing much better than expected. On the second night of our trip, the semi-final game being held in Seoul would feature South Korea versus Germany - this was amazing timing for us!
The “Reds” - the nickname for the South Korean team, thanks to their very red kit - were the heroes of the moment. On our first day, one of our outings was a wander through the Seoul Central Market and as you can see, everywhere you looked, “Be the Reds” paraphernalia shouted support for the Korean team - it wasn’t long at all before I bought a shirt and bandana to join in with the fun.
At the markets, it was also clear that “Reds” fans were of all ages in South Korea that month. On the night of the semi-final, people came out in their many, many thousands. The market stalls must have done a roaring trade, as the “Reds” shirts were everywhere, and the face painters were in full swing too.
And so we sat on the ground at Gwanghwamun Plaza - apparently amongst a crowd of 250,000 supporters, part of an estimated seven million people who were on the streets of Seoul to watch football that night - and we got completely caught up in the cheering and excitement of the semi-final.
(Incidentally, I mentioned this amazing Korean performance to my football-loving son recently, and he immediately told me that everybody knows that them reaching the semi-finals was all just corruption - he mightn’t be entirely wrong since at the very least, history records it as being quite a controversial rise - but none of this was apparent to me while I was there!)
In the end South Korea lost the game, Germany scoring one goal to their none, but the atmosphere was still joyous, celebrating the fact that they’d made it so far. But by far the most memorable moments for me happened immediately after that final whistle.
Remember, I was sitting amidst a quarter of a million people in the centre of Seoul, in an area that had been closed off to traffic so crowds could watch on large screens. We’d all been there for several hours, everybody snacking and drinking and celebrating. The game finished, there were some final brief cheers, and then out of seemingly nowhere, piles of blue plastic garbage bags appeared, and every single person began to tidy up the streets.
I kid you not, within ten minutes, the streets were absolutely spotless, and the bags of rubbish piled neatly on the kerbs. I’d never seen anything like it in my life. This moment endeared the people of South Korea to me in a way that has let me love them forever more!
And it was also a fun way to be introduced to the World Cup.
Following me to Germany
After our Seoul trip, we returned to work and life in Japan, then moved the following year to work in Bratislava, and the year after that to Germany. That boyfriend left, I met a new one, and I was still living and teaching in south-west Germany when I suddenly realised that the World Cup had followed me - the 2006 edition was taking place in Germany.
I knew a little bit more about football by now, and my German boyfriend and his friends, of course, knew a lot; my students also taught me plenty, including some Italian students who tried to persuade me to support Italy over Germany once the World Cup arrived.
But before it all started, there was an extra thrill: for the first time in my lifetime, my beloved home country of Australia had qualified for the World Cup. On top of that, their home base during the tournament was Öhringen, a town less than 30km from where I was living in Heilbronn.
My mum happened to be visiting at the time and along with my friend Meredith, the three of us had a lovely day out in Öhringen watching an open training session of the Socceroos, along with a bunch of other Aussie fans.
I spent the rest of the World Cup enjoying watching games with various groups of friends, often at outside viewing areas with big screens set up and plenty of beer on hand (it was Germany, so, of course!).
I proudly hung an Australian flag from the balcony of my German flat, and much less proudly wore an Italian jersey for the rest of the night after losing a bet to an Italian friend (I stupidly told him Australia would beat Italy in their round of 16 game, and of course they didn’t).
Each time Germany won a game, especially when they beat Argentina in the quarter finals, the streets went crazy - the normally quiet and sedate Germans of my relatively small town drove around honking and screaming in jubilation. It was a wonderful summer of football and the perfect place to spend it!
Twenty years later, I’m a World Cup addict
Two World Cups in situ was enough to get me fully on board. The universe must’ve known that what awaited me down the track was a football-obsessed goalkeeper son - who came to the sport independent of me - and when we travel now we would never miss out on a football-related spot.
Last year in Seoul, for example, we made sure to head out to the stadium - very easy to find as the train stop is even called World Cup Stadium! While we didn’t time our trip right to see a game it was still great to have a look around. (And it’s right next to Oil Tank Culture Park, which in itself is totally worth a visit.)
And of course, this past month we have spent a lot of time watching football games on TV. The time zone differences to the 2026 host countries are not as tricky for us as some years have been, with many games falling between 6am and midday here, although we did get up to watch the Socceroos sadly lose their round of 32 match to Egypt starting from the unfriendly time of 2am!
What all this World Cup chasing and being chased has taught me
There are still times when I stop and think hey, all this obsession (and money!) caught up in a group of people kicking a round ball around is kind of weird.
But more often, I think how lovely it is that I know something about a topic that many millions of people also love. It’s such an easy way into a conversation, a topic that connects across many different cultures and languages. And while the World Cup event itself is never without controversy, the basic premise of it unites many across the globe for a fun month every four years.
In Australia this time round, I’ve been especially pleased to see how the Socceroos have used it as an opportunity to promote multiculturalism, which I consider a really core Australian value, and yet it’s under threat of late by some of our right-wing politicians.
This video is worth a watch, but the TL;DR version is that the Australian team includes players representing at least 15 cultural and ethnic backgrounds, with many players either born overseas or having parents born abroad - a very common part of the Australian mix - and even includes players who grew up in refugee camps before being able to migrate on humanitarian visas to Australia.
My son’s own football team is similar - at last count, the sixteen players also represent 15 different countries either by birth or a parent’s birth, spread across all continents. The variety of people and cultures living here is something I really enjoy about Australia, and anything that helps keep this harmonious is a winner by my reckoning.
Anyway: have you ever had a tournament chase you around the world?? And is your favourite team still in the running to win the World Cup this time?
What a special experience to have in Korea! You happened to arrive right in the middle of one of the biggest and most memorable moments the country has experienced in the past twenty years, so you'll always have a unique memory of Korea from that time.
It seems like a totally "Amanda" thing to be in places where the World Cup is held without even knowing it!!! :)