The World Cup is just finished but we still have lots of incredible sports moments to share with you: the today’s #tbt is specifically dedicated to two sensational supporters’ stories which took place in Russia during the matches.
The Egyptian Hassan Sedky, a 25 years old guy forced into a wheelchair, was with his best friend Mostafa Amin to cheer on Egypt.
During the Fan Fest on Thursday, on the opening day of the World Cup, a photo which portrayed Sedky has been shared widely on social media, showing the Egyptian man in a wheelchair being lifted by fellow football fans from other countries.
Amin told CNN that soon after the celebration started, all the fans “came together and everybody was cheering for everybody.” But when it was time to cheer for Egypt, Sedky’s energy got the attention of other football fans, people all walks of life who were basically cheering on their home teams.
“We lifted him up in the air in celebration.” Amin said. “We all decided to get him up in celebration of his attitude to life. And to show this example to the rest of the people around us.”
From his point of view, Sedky described the “amazing feeling” of being raised to the sky as “completely spontaneous”.
“One minute everyone is dancing and the next I was up on the air.” he just commented.
The image has been said as a proof of the real meaning of the World Cup’s spirit: to be more than just a global sporting event and to inspire fierce pride and intense competition uniting people.
Indeed, the comments posted on Twitter have demonstrated the great admiration which has inspired people from all over the world.
“Football brings people together and thats the beauty of the game,” one user wrote, “Truly proud that our nation’s could get together to lift up another,” wrote another.
“I am not a man who has a deep appreciation for soccer, but this picture represents the kind of world I want to live in,” another user commented.
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The Scottish Iain Meiklejohn, father of the half-polish 6 years old Aleks, took his son to Russia to support his mum’s native Poland.
When he saw Poland lose 3-0 to Colombia, Aleks was in tears at the Kazan Arena because the defeat would have decided the elimination of Poland in the ambitious tournament.
Bu while Mr Meiklejohn is seen consoling his son, the Colombian fans all around them started singing “Polska, Polska, Polska!”, becoming, according to Meiklejohn “easily the best group of supporters” he has ever sat with.
Fortunately Mrs. Iwona Meiklejohn has took a 15 second video of this happening, uploaded it to Twitter later that night.
The whole thing exploded. “It went viral and we have had non-stop communication from all over the world for the last six or seven days. It’s been unreal.” as Meiklejohn confessed.
The following days, when all the family came back to Scotland, they learned that they had been selected for an all expenses paid trip to Moscow to watch the World Cup final as winner for FIFA’s ‘Rival Hug’ competition
And he couldn’t hide his delight at the “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to head back for the game – having just touched down back at home last night.