My World Cup Dream

Shivi Mishra, Qatar

Shivi Mishra works for the Supreme Committee as a Logistics Project Officer. As part of the GOALS program, Shivi tells the story of her life as a “third culture kid” and moving to Qatar from India, her history of volunteering, and her dream to work at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

At age 14, I dreamed of working in Qatar during the FIFA World Cup. In life, I never want to look back and think, “Oh no, I should have just gone for it!”.

I am a proud “third culture kid”, born in India and raised in the Gulf. I am definitely a proud Indian but I am an equally proud Gulf kid who loves her falafel, 9-month long summer, and Eid fireworks!

In my spare time, I document my life through photography and my iPhone camera. After discovering about 30 photo albums captured by my father of his life from his college days and throughout my childhood, I was inspired. All on 35mm analogue film, the pictures look beautiful.

I have recently joined a local club called the Analog Film Club which inspired me to take up a film camera and capture life on 35mm roll. 35mm is important for me because it is authentic and pure. You cannot edit the photos.

It is easy to spot beauty in daily life. Everywhere you look through your camera lens or camera app, you can always find something beautiful and interesting to capture.

During the pandemic, I started an account on Instagram called @fromdohaandbeyond. This represents exactly how my whole life has been - from Doha and beyond.

Since I was three years old, I kicked around a football to pass the time. When I was three, we moved to Qatar, and my mom was a PE teacher and a cricket coach.

I followed her around after school and watched her coach badminton and table tennis. To keep my sister and me entertained, my mom always carried a football for us to kick around.

Living in Doha, my parents loved to take me and my sister to watch any sports game live to give us the great experience of being part of sports without playing it. Whenever there is football, tennis, or cricket in Doha, we love to go and watch it.

When the World Cup in Qatar was announced in 2010, we were living in Bahrain. The news had a significant impact on my life. I had a big dream; someday, I will return to Qatar and work in some way to contribute to the World Cup.

My dream moved a step closer to reality when my dad secured a job back in Qatar. I was 15 years old, and after six years away, I was back.

My mom suggested that I start volunteering in events around Qatar, so at least I can volunteer during the World Cup. I volunteered for the World Petroleum Congress Doha 2011…my title was Venue Information Volunteer!

After this experience, I knew that working in events was for me!

My mom being a sports teacher influenced me. I was never interested in playing, but I was interested in how a sport was organized that brought so many people together and gave so much joy to the players and audience watching.

Because I never wanted to play, I want to be behind the scenes of the games. I am a great cricket scorer, thanks to that!  My dream job is to be a tennis line umpire someday - following in the footsteps of my mom, who is the first female cricket umpire from the Middle East to umpire in international cricket.

Whilst studying, I managed to volunteer at the ATP Qatar Open tennis tournament, assisting the top players. I managed to complete my assignments and study for exams under my reception desk!

After an internship at a German agency (where I learned the importance of being on time!), I worked at the Qatar Foundation for one year. I had the opportunity to give back to the community through events for ladies only and a lively farmers market organized during the pandemic.

At the end of 2021, after 5 years of trying - I was accepted to work at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy of the FIFA World Cup 2022 as a Logistics Project Officer.

I am excited that in 2022 people from around the world will see where I come from and where I grew up. Qatar is my home and this year will host the World Cup!

I have a small role to play directly in the biggest sporting event in the world.

I hope I can achieve my goal of giving my best to my work and feeling proud of myself on the final day of the World Cup in December 2022!

With my photos I  tried to show the diversity of the population of Qatar and who is involved in football on a daily basis.

At the Street Child World Cup an Indian and Pakistani player were standing side by side discussing, laughing and enjoying watching other teams play. The relationship between these two countries is always shown in a negative light, so it was a nice moment to observe! 

There were also children wearing different jerseys sitting next to each other, discussing the football they were watching and looking like a bunch of football experts.

There are many changes happening in women’s sport in Qatar. Sportswomen are now part of marketing campaigns for brands which usually would only assign sportsmen as ambassadors for their respective brand. I recently noticed Luluwa Al-Marri was the face of Talabat’s (food delivery app) new campaign.

Qatar and Gulf countries in general follow, love and play football like any other South American and European country does, but that has not been made widely known. The hospitality and diversity existing in Qatar is also an unknown fact to many! Qatar is one of the most welcoming places.

All of these stereotypes will be challenged and broken from Day 1 of the World Cup and hopefully, by the end, everyone will love it as much as I do! 

My dream for Qatar this year is that the country will shine! The world wants to know what this country is about? How are they going to host the World Cup? Who lives there? So, this year is all also about answering those questions and hosting the best World Cup ever!