The World Cup has been a special part of my life since Italia ’90. I was a kid then, watching Maradona and feeling like the whole world was happening in that moment. Every tournament after that became a marker in my life, from USA 94 to the unforgettable run of Türkiye in 2002, and even the ones I do not remember as clearly still carried that same legendary feeling for me.
What made those years so powerful was the magic of the teams and the stories around them. Italy with its elegance, Germany with its strength, Argentina with its passion, the Netherlands with that orange wave, and Brazil with football that felt like a dance. For a kid, these teams were not just names. They were entire worlds opening on a TV screen. It felt bigger than sports, something that showed how different places could share the same moment. Those memories stayed with me long after each tournament ended.
Being there in person and watching a World Cup game felt impossible to a child playing football in the narrow streets of Istanbul. Now I am grown up, and the tournament is coming to my city this summer. That still feels unbelievable to me.
In a way, the World Cup coming here is also connected to my own journey. It is only possible because I once dared to move across borders and oceans and start a life in a new world. I never imagined that this choice would someday make it possible to see a World Cup match right where I live. Yet here it is, happening.
Now the tournament is coming to this very city, and the thought of walking into a stadium for a match feels like closing a loop that began when I was a kid. At the same time, prices were made public recently, and seeing the numbers and the corporate greed behind them has been disappointing. It is hard not to feel pushed aside by the money side of a sport that once felt so pure.
Still, I know what this moment means to me, and I refuse to let the child inside me be carried away by the reality of the adult world. I am entering the lottery for a manageable ticket from a legendary team. I am doing this for the memory. This might be a once in a lifetime chance, and even with all the frustration around the prices, the excitement is still real. I want to remember that I tried to be part of something I have loved since I was young, and that I did it in a way that felt right to me. I want this to be a memory I carry with pride for the rest of my life.
Whatever happens, I will protect the World Cup spirit of the child who still lives inside me.
Excited for World Cup 2026!
I’m a US-based software engineer with a background in law. I share mostly practical tech notes here for my future self and anyone who finds them useful.
One of the things I’ve built is Masterlist: Focus & Tasks, a privacy-focused, local-storage-only task manager that offers focus tracking tied to tasks and projects, compatible with the Pomodoro technique.