The Argentine who used his programming knowledge and managed to participate in 38 World Cup matches: “My wife thinks I’m crazy”

Due to the short distance between the stadiums, the Qatar 2022 World Cup, in the previous one, offered the possibility of being able to enjoy more than one match on each day. Then, of course, several setbacks had to be overcome, starting with the difficulty of obtaining positions. The Argentine Carlo Diaz-Calvi he succeeded in several ways and he succeeded: not only did he enjoy all the matches of the Argentina national team from the public, but he also he was present in 38 World Cup matches.

To achieve this goal, Carlos, who was born in Corrientes and who since 1999 has lived in various countries of the world (Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Chile and the United States) for work, has used all his knowledge as a graduate in systems.

With unsuccessful experience in ticket lottery FIFA made for Russia 2018, for Qatar created 1,200 accounts and scheduled all their data to be automatically uploaded. His expectation was to get tickets for four or five matches, including one from Argentina.

But in the draw received more than 300 entries.

“Obviously I couldn’t pay for all of them. Many of those packages were from Argentina-Mexico, so I kept my ticket, gave 10 more to my friends, and exchanged the rest for other tickets. I received 40 tickets. Knowing that then the tickets for Argentina-Mexico were sold much more expensive, maybe I could have resold them, but it’s not for me, my thing was to see the World Cup” said Carlos clarionwith the Khalifa International Stadium in the background, where he watched, among other matches, England’s 6-2 win against Iran, in Group B.

– Haven’t you resold any tickets?

– No. I exchanged tickets for lodging. There were some Argentines who needed to go to Argentina-Mexico and since it was difficult to send money from Argentina, they offered me accommodation for two weeks there in Barwa. Then I also happened to get 26 or 27 tickets from the barter, and since I became quite well known in Discord and WhatsApp groups to have so many tickets, I created a Discord group with more than 500 people, mostly from India . They offered to get me category 4 tickets at a very low price, those tickets are for locals only. I got them for $8 a game.

– When did you start with the idea of ​​breaking Thulani Ngcobo’s record, the South African who watched 31 matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?

– At first the idea was not to go to all the games, but to choose. But many told me about the record which was in 31 games. And I said ‘Since I have 40 tickets, I’m alone, and my wife is going to pay for it at some point, I’m going to try to go to every game I can because I enjoy it.’ That’s how it happened. I had 38 games left in total and I decided to play as many as possible.

– How was it going from one game to another?

– I started the opening day, and it was complicated because it wasn’t very clear yet. Many didn’t know that stadium-to-stadium buses exist, which probably added them eventually. They said there would be no buses in consecutive matches, that FIFA hasn’t authorized them, but they exist. I spent my time rushing, queuing in and out.

– Have you seen all the complete matches?

– Yes, at most at the beginning I retired a few minutes before the end. It takes time to understand how the whole transport system works, the distances. I happened to come to this stadium to watch England-Iran and when the match was 4-1 I said ‘It’s a good time to go to Holland-Senegal across the city’. I started and finished perfect, right at the start of the match, but missed two more goals for England. And when I was in Holland-Senegal I had to go to another match, but I stayed until the 90th minute because the goal was in the 88th minute. There I knew that I could miss several goals by not staying until the end of the games and I started to manage it a little better.

– How did you decide when to leave?

– When the match was close, I decided to stay, even though I would be late for other matches. Later I found the return to the transport and there I was able to be the 90 minutes in almost any part.

– What was the best match you saw?

– From how I experienced it, that we all became Japanese fans, I’d tell you it was Germany-Japan. After that of Argentina-Australia… The country also weighs a lot, the one suffered with Poland and first with Mexico. If I have to say another I would say Germany-Japan, or even South Korea-Ghana. Then I had tickets for matches that I thought wouldn’t be interesting, but in the end they were the best, like Serbia-Cameroon for example.

– Do you regret a meeting that you could not see?

– The games I missed were to get to the previous one in Argentina. I missed important matches, such as France-Denmark, but I didn’t want to miss the previous party and waving. Then I lost the occasional game which ended 0-0. I could see everything else.

– Was it ever difficult for you to keep up with this pace?

– I ended up hospitalized after Argentina’s match against Poland. He has already arrived without a voice after shouting the goals against Mexico, because we didn’t know if he had camel flu or if he had Covid. In the end I had nothing, but it turned out that a lot of us passed, so at some point the number of people who have fallen ill at this World Cup will make headlines. After walking and running on the bus for a long time, after the match against Poland I went to the hospital and ended up hospitalized for four hours, doing some tests and taking more than one medicine.

– And the most beautiful stadium?

– The best stadium in the World Cup almost without a doubt, and even if they are all very good and beautiful, it is Al Bayt. It’s in the desert, north of Qatar, and I think it’s the best because of the outside architecture, it’s very pretty.

– What do your relatives, your friends tell you?

– My wife thinks I’m crazy, that with this I’ll get tired of football, but I think not. My friends from Corrientes are very happy to have this experience, to be able to enjoy my first World Cup. They think I’m crazy, but he’s crazy enough.

Carlos, who has published 12 novels and likes to present himself as a “novelist who works in systems”, enjoyed Qatar 2022 up to the round of 16 and has already left for Houston, USA, where he currently resides, to be reunited with his wife, his daughter and his son and thus resume his work as a project manager for large oil companies.

“Now I will continue to support the Argentina national team on television”he assured, happy to have crowned the dream of a lifetime.

Production: Alejandro Bar and Marcelo Ferreiro.

Doha, Qatar. Special envoys.

dd