“Four magical days in Brazil,” said pejoan, perfectly describing the experience FIFA.com offered members of its community during the 2014 FIFA World Cup™. The Colombian, along with nine other Club members and their guests traveled to Brazil to experience the World Cup as an official FIFA.com contest winner. “There are not enough words to describe it. You just have to live and feel it,” he said.
In the years building up to Brazil 2014, FIFA.com offered millions of Club members the chance to win hundreds of prizes through a variety of games and contests, but only ten Club members were able to secure the ultimate prize: an exclusive FIFA World Cup experience including flights, accommodation and match tickets!
Some winners chose to experience the opening match in Sao Paulo, others opted for a moment in the Maracana or a visit to Porto Alegre and Salvador, while a lucky few secured a seat at the Final. Our World Cup prize winners spoke to FIFA.com and reflected on their experiences in Brazil.
Canadian JrBecks007 – whose ability to predict daily match results in our ongoing FIFA Predictor game secured him a trip to Brazil – attended the opening match in Sao Paulo. “The atmosphere on game day was incredible,” he said. “As my wife and I got off the subway and headed towards the stadium we moved in a sea of yellow shirts. In the stadium, nearly everyone was cheering for the home team. It was just incredible to be surrounded by sixty-two thousand fans chanting for the Brazilian national team.”A childhood dream
When torpedo-g started playing FIFA Ultimate Trivia, he never expected that it would result in a two-week long World Cup journey that would include match tickets, flights and accommodation in three host cities. As a Grand Prize winner, he was able to select a team to follow for the entire group stage. “As an Albanian, I’ve never seen my national team qualify for the World Cup,” he said. “But when I was a kid my father showed me videos of Holland and Johan Cruyff. The more I watched them play, the more I loved them.”
torpedo-g watched Netherlands play in Salvador, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo. “My favourite match was the one against Spain. It was the day after my birthday. As an Oranje fan I was crushed after the 2010 Final. When I saw Spain take the lead in Salvador I started having the same bad emotions. The rest is history. The second half was absurd! The Dutch scored four goals on the side I was sitting in!”At the Final
Currently living in the USA, nangaca surprised her Colombia father by winning the 2013 FIFA/FIFPro Predictor game and inviting him on a trip that would include four nights in Rio de Janeiro and seats in the Maracana for the Germany-Argentina Final. The father and daughter reunited at Galeão International Airport in Rio to embark on the trip of a lifetime. “Rio turned into a carnival the day of the Final. You couldn’t find a silent corner in the city!” Said nangaca. “This experience surpassed all my expectations. We are already planning our trip to Russia!”
While the sights were impressive, trinipelvic from Trinidad and Tobago fell in love with the sounds of Brazil. “Even though there were two teams on the field there were three teams in the stands,” he said, recalling his experience at the Final. “It was a singing battle between the Argentinians and the Brazilians and Germans. It was fantastic!”
More than football
Our winners’ World Cup highlights were not exclusive to football. “There are too many to pick just one,” JrBecks007 told us. “Dancing at a Lapa street party, playing with monkeys on top of Sugarloaf Mountain and stand up paddle-boarding at Copacabana are some of my favourites.”
djps150 from Venezuela arrived in Rio ready to experience it all. “We saw so much,” he said. “We visited the Sambadrome, Christ the Redeemer, Sugarloaf, the Cathedral, the Arches of Lapa and the famous beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema. Everything was spectacular!”
javilan, whose trip to Rio marked the first time he’d ever flown in an airplane, was most affected by the coming together of people and cultures so unique to the World Cup. “I was telling my travelling companion how amazing it was to see so many different people from all over the world,” he said. “We live in a town in Argentina of 150,000 people. This trip made me want to learn more about other people, cultures, and parts of the world.”The 2014 World Cup games may be over, but the contests and prizes never stop on FIFA.com! You could win a trip to the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2014 by playing our monthly FIFA Ultimate Trivia and FIFA Predictor games! Sign up now!