A goal to spread soccer lands Omaha kids on the World Cup field

A group of kids and chaperones stood on the cement curb of Sacred Heart School in downtown Omaha. A white minivan parked nearby, its trunk and doors open.

“So, where is Curaçao?” a chaperone quizzed the group. It was the first of many trivia questions promised on the three-hour drive south to Kansas City for the day’s World Cup match between Curaçao and Ecuador. 

Most kids get a pass for not knowing their geography at 9 a.m. on a Saturday, but this group needed to know a bit more about the small Caribbean island. In a few hours, the five grade schoolers would be walking out onto the field at Arrowhead Stadium, hand in hand with Curaçao players.

Football for the World USA, an Omaha-based nonprofit, was selected to fill 22 spots in the FIFA World Cup player escort program, which partners kids with professional players during a pre-game ceremony. Afterward, the kids get to stay to watch the match.

Football for the World awarded the rare spots to passionate kids who participate in its free Omaha soccer league. For many of them, this is their first time at a professional soccer match.

“I don’t think they understand how big of a deal this is,” one mom said, waving goodbye as the van left. 

For over a decade, Football for the World has dedicated time and resources to improving access to soccer in Omaha. They provide free soccer equipment, programming and coaching for hundreds of kids each year.

The organization also tries to show kids that they have a place in the world of soccer, no matter their background. Now, the player escort program is putting this mission on the biggest stage in sports.

“I think this is really the highest level of what that looks like,” said Executive Director Joe Marinkovich.

Meeting the need

Football for the World started in Canada, and in 2015, Monica Bosiljevac established a U.S. branch in Omaha. She was a University of Nebraska at Omaha soccer player at the time, fresh off a study abroad trip to Botswana, where she saw kids playing soccer without cleats or standard soccer balls.

There has to be a need like that back home, too, she thought. 

Bosiljevac said she had no idea it would grow into the organization it has become. It now provides 700 Omaha kids a year with free equipment, after-school soccer leagues and player development. 

It has also shipped equipment to over 30 countries and completed two mini pitches – small, low-maintenance soccer fields – in Omaha at Girls Inc. and Jackson Elementary, giving hundreds of kids weekly access to play. 

“It’s unlike anything I ever imagined,” Bosiljevac said. 

Football for the World is the farthest organization away from an American or Canadian host city selected to participate in the escort program, said Luke Fairbairn, director of community at Common Goal USA, which helped lead the escort program selection. Football for the World is one of 200 organizations in their network.

“They were always on our radar,” Fairbairn said. “They’re a really unique program.”

Football for the World works in eastern Omaha, where most families live 20 or more minutes away from the nearest soccer club. And participation in those clubs can be costly: Annual fees for club soccer can reach $3,500, said Vance Rookwood, a club coach and Football for the World board member.

Rookwood grew up in Jamaica, where he often played soccer for free with shared equipment. This is a common grassroots entry point for soccer players worldwide, and something Football for the World is replicating in Omaha through its free programs.

It’s a mission that is actively supporting families, like Mychelle Orduna’s, who said her sons probably wouldn’t be playing soccer without Football for the World.

“This program has been everything for us,” Orduna said. Her kids go directly from the NorthStar Foundation to Football for the World soccer programming on the same campus, saving her transportation costs. The group also gives her kids cleats each year – something she can’t afford.

When Football for the World offered her son an escort spot, she said her reaction was “You guys already do enough, this is insane!”

Her 11-year-old son Jace will be walking out with players at the July 11 game, a quarterfinal that could be a face-off between soccer heavyweights Argentina and Portugal if both win their groups and go unbeaten in the knockout rounds. 

Each team features one of the most famous players in the world — Lionel Messi for Argentina and Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal. 

“Jace is like, ‘Oh, I hope Messi and Ronaldo are playing on the same day,’” she said. “It’s honestly insane.”

Soccer’s best

The parents sat at a long table on the pavement at the Northstar field, greeted by Marinkovich, while their kids played soccer nearby. 

It was June 9, and within the next five weeks, all of their kids would be coming back from Kansas City with a World Cup story to tell.

“This is, first and foremost, a celebration of the best that soccer can offer,” Marinkovich said to start the send-off event. “These are going to be really long days, so we thank you for trusting us with your kids.”

None of the parents are attending the games, constrained by steep ticket prices.

“I don’t know that I would trust any other people with my kids like I do them,” said Christina Ciembor, the mom of Kyler, an 11-year-old at Mandela Elementary who Marinkovich has coached since kindergarten. 

Soon, the 22 kids joined their parents, sitting in the four groups they would go with to the World Cup. Students from the CUES School System at one end of the table, Jackson Elementary at the other, with Nelson Mandela Elementary and North Star kids sitting across from each other on the long side. 

The kids buzzed amongst themselves about the uniforms they’ll wear, the signatures they hope to get and what they plan to say to their players before they walk out.

“I hope they sign my shirt!” one said. “I’m bringing my World Cup ball for them to sign!” said another.

Some of the kids were picked using a spinner wheel, and others’ names were randomly drawn. Benjamin Huju, an 11-year-old at Jackson Elementary, said his parents sat him down on the couch one day after school and delivered the news: He was going to the World Cup. Huju said he didn’t realize what was happening right away. 

“I didn’t know I’d be walking on with the players. I just thought I was going to a World Cup game,” he said. “I was overjoyed.”

Huju is one of the students at Jackson benefiting from Football for the World’s investment in mini pitches in Omaha. Before Jackson Elementary had one, Huju said he would play goalie in the dirt, pointing to the places on his legs he used to get bruises. Now, he uses the mini pitch all the time.

“It’s their favorite place to be,” said Cristina Salazar, the program coordinator at Jackson Elementary.

Treated like celebrities

On June 20, after the white minivan left Omaha and headed south, its first stop in Kansas City was Ryogoku Soccer Academy. There, the Omaha crew met the 17 Kansas City kids walking out for the match and changed into their navy Quaker Oats Escort Program uniforms and neon pink shoes. 

Then, kids and chaperones bused to Arrowhead Stadium for nearly six hours of rehearsal and fun. The kids played video games and cards in the player escort green room and had dinner together before the evening match.

“They just got to hang out and be treated like celebrities,” Marinkovich said.

Arrowhead Stadium gradually filled with nearly 70,000 fans. Ecuador’s yellow and Curaçao’s blue flooded the stands, and the decibel level climbed. A countdown to kickoff began on the LED board, and fans screamed.

Evan Warren, 11, could hear it all from the tunnel. He stood next to Curaçao’s number 9, Jurgen Locadia, waiting to walk out. He delivered a message.

“I told him to make sure you win for me,” Evan said over the phone during the second half of the game. “I was smiling all the time,” he said between cheers for Curaçao.

The kids adopted the team as their own after walking out with the players. They didn’t know, and didn’t care, that the Caribbean nation was a heavy underdog, given about a 5% chance of winning on prediction markets.

“There was so much enthusiasm,” said Jim Swanson, the chaperone for the day. “One of the boys even ran back from the bathroom not to miss a second.”

The kids ultimately witnessed history. Curaçao tied the game 0-0 after a heroic performance by the team’s goalie. It was a preview of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity three more groups of Omaha kids would get to experience in Kansas City on June 25 and 27 and July 11.

During the game, Marinkovich said, the parents were texting him about how proud they were. “I was crying,” he said.

On the drive home, Marinkovich said the kids chatted nonstop for the first 70 minutes. They talked about the game and looked online to see if they could see photos of themselves. 

“Then they passed out,” Marinkovich said, laughing. Altogether, it was a 17-hour day, with hundreds of hours of planning and training behind the scenes. Football for the World heads back to Kansas City a few more times, with high school leagues and programs ongoing in Omaha the whole summer.

“Hopefully,” Marinkovich said, “we can look back on this in six weeks, six months, six years, and it’s one of those foundational stories that we tell, like a huge point in our organizational growth.”