I’m a Grad Student Who Volunteered at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Here’s What It Was Like Behind The Scenes

This student-contributed piece was written by Rachel Beatty (G’30), a second-year Ph.D. student in Spanish linguistics in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Throughout June and July, I had the privilege of participating in the FIFA World Cup as a media operations and services volunteer in Philadelphia. The city hosted six matches and welcomed 10 different teams, along with their fans, from all over the world. 

Since I’m a Philadelphia local, it was special being able to welcome the international media and teams to the city I call home. Although I would be assigned to different areas depending on the match day, my role would remain about the same throughout my experience: guide members of the media throughout the entirety of the match and answer their questions.

As a Spanish linguistics Ph.D. student in Georgetown’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese, I was thrilled to use my Spanish and the conversational Italian skills I’ve acquired during my program when interacting with journalists. In the soccer world, Spanish is an incredible tool for communication, since in many Spanish-speaking countries fútbol is the national sport.

This actually wasn’t my first year volunteering with FIFA. One of the reasons I was selected from a pool of thousands of applicants was because I had already volunteered for the FIFA Club World Cup during the summer of 2025. Returning for the 2026 World Cup was an unforgettable experience that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life.

A Typical Day as a FIFA Volunteer

Each match day, and sometimes the day prior to the match, I interacted with dozens of international and local media members passing through the stadium as they followed their teams. It was fascinating to chat with some of the media in Spanish about what they do and where they were headed. I even became friendly with the voice behind Coca-Cola and Heineken in Mexico!

Working with media ops meant that I would find myself in various locations around Lincoln Financial Field, where the Philadelphia Eagles play a different kind of football. A typical day could find me in the press box, the photo workroom and even on the pitch during the match.

During post-match interviews, I’d run between the Mixed Zone interview space and press conference area to help direct members of the press. The Mixed Zone was the Eagles locker room, transformed into a media area before the final minutes of the match. The reporters raced to find the closest spot and the best angle to set up their cameras and microphones before the “Man of The Match,” the game MVP, arrived for questions.

Sometimes I would watch and observe these interviews, while other times I passed the microphone around to journalists as they were selected by the team manager. It was surreal to stand right next to the players as they were being interviewed and watch the teams walk through the tunnel and back to their buses. I was in close proximity to some big players, like France’s Kylian Mbappé and Croatia’s Luka Modrić, who played in his final World Cup this year.

I hadn’t had prior experience with the media, broadcasting and journalism before FIFA. Over the summer, I learned that for sports journalists, one blink of the eye can cost you the best shot of the match. If you aren’t in the right spot at the right time, you might miss the viral moment of the day. No matter how hot it was, or even if it was downpouring during the match, the media wouldn’t leave their posts!

An Unforgettable Fourth of July

For me, the match-day volunteer experience that surpassed all others was the Fourth of July match between France and Paraguay. That day, I was sent down to the pitch during the opening ceremony and saw the Independence Day show from one of the best seats in the house. 

Idina Menzel, known for her role as Elsa in Frozen, stood front and center singing the national anthem, backed by a choir and dancers. The grand finale included a fly-over with red, white and blue smoke shooting up into the sky. 

Immediately after the finale, both teams walked out to fan greetings and then lined up to sing their own national anthems. I remember standing there on the turf in the brutal heat and still feeling chills down my spine. It was a surreal experience to be there for such an important event, and on the Fourth of July at that. I felt like I was part of pop culture history at that moment.

During the game, my job was to make sure that the media stayed in their designated areas on the sidelines as they snapped pictures. Later, during the second half of the match, I was placed on the far left corner behind France’s goal, where I assisted the photographers and handed out water bottles to media members. I capped off that busy day by hanging out in the photo workroom as the photographers edited their pictures and tried to walk away with the best shot of the match.

Advice for Volunteer-Minded Grad Students

When I applied to volunteer for the 2026 World Cup, I had no idea what my chances of acceptance would be for a tournament of this magnitude.

Now, with two years of FIFA volunteer experience, the best advice I could offer anyone interested in being part of any major international event would be to not feel discouraged by its fame and prestige.

Organizations like FIFA rely on the help of hundreds of volunteers to carry out tournaments of this size: Just imagine a tournament with 48 teams, 16 host cities and three host countries organizing the matches without the help of the locals who know the city best! Local community members make the visitor experience better not only for the fans, but also for the media and the players. Their assistance also allows all visitors to truly experience the culture of each host city.

If you think you would enjoy volunteering as much as I did, I recommend highlighting your strengths and talents during the interview process. Show the interviewers your personality, your interests, and whatever it is you are passionate about, and they will clearly see that you will bring the same enthusiasm to their volunteer team. 

Plus, having a bilingual or trilingual advantage doesn’t hurt!