In the Dominican Republic, football has suddenly become all the rage. In a country where baseball typically rules the roost, Lloyd, a well-known goalkeeper, and Fajardo, a referee by trade, are not only enjoying watching the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup Dominican Republic 2024™ on home soil, but also honouring their love for the game by volunteering.

Miguel Lloyd is a well-known goalkeeper in the Caribbean nation. The goalkeeper for Cibao FC and the national team is tall, commanding and has a keen eye for detail. On the pitch, his job is simple: keep clean sheets, read the game, and be one step ahead of the opposition.

But this time, as a volunteer, Miguel has decided to do something a bit different. He is contributing behind the scenes at the World Cup to get a different perspective of the game. “What grabbed my attention the most was the opportunity to experience a World Cup in my own country. It makes me very proud.”

When Miguel decided that he wanted to become a volunteer, he knew that his role would be much less glamorous than being out on the pitch, between the goalposts and facing eleven opponents. “As a player, you’re always focused on the game itself, but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that you don’t see,” he says. At this World Cup, Miguel is responsible for something that has become fundamental to the game: technology and innovation.

His job is to make sure that everything that makes the magic of the game possible runs smoothly: the cameras, the referee’s headsets, the signal between the teams’ benches and the pitch.

“I arrive early, around eleven o’clock in the morning, and I make sure that everything is working as it should be,” he explains. There is no adrenaline here, no fans, no chants reverberating around the stadium like there usually are when he makes a save. However, there is a lot of dedication and a deep desire to learn. “What I enjoy most is learning about everything that goes into organising a football game and meeting new people. There are many people from different countries that have treated me with the utmost respect, and I like to treat them with respect as well and continue to learn.”

Then there is Junior Fajardo. Referee and owner of a small car upholstery shop. Only a month ago he suffered a stroke. Now, against all odds, he is a volunteer in Santiago de los Caballeros.

“That day I woke up at 09:00 in the morning and I said goodbye to my wife. Darling, I’m off to work,” he says, pausing to take stock of the whole whirlwind of emotions that remind him of that day. “Then, at around ten o’clock at night, I woke up in hospital without the foggiest idea what had happened.”

Junior’s memory of that day is still a little hazy, so he tells us what his wife told him had happened. “She told me that after I said goodbye to her, I had a epileptic seizure. She called 911, the paramedics came and they took me to hospital.”

A month later, and with a diagnosis that required him to rest up, Junior decided to become a volunteer. His family were not thrilled by his decision. But he insisted, he spoke to his doctor and explained to him that the role would not be strenuous. “I told him what I’d be doing as a volunteer and he told me that it’d be fine, that there wouldn’t be any issues and that it’d even be good therapy for my brain.”

“I’ve always loved football. It’s my life, my passion, it’s what I love,” says Junior, explaining his lifelong devotion to the game. “Football has given me so much that I decided to give something back by volunteering at this World Cup.”

For Miguel, it is a source of huge pride, knowing that every minute he spends at this event is a contribution to something far bigger. “I’m having a blast, having a World Cup on home soil is something very special, although some people have tried to downplay its importance by saying that it’s only an U-17 Women’s World Cup, but for me it’s just as important as any other World Cup.”

Both men have discovered that volunteering at this tournament is much more than just a place for them to offer their time, it is also an opportunity for them to make an impact.

“This World Cup will have a huge impact. It will get more girls interested in the sport and it will get more people here in the Dominican Republic interested in watching the sport,” Miguel says, looking to the future with the hope of someone who has seen his own dreams come true.

For Junior, this experience is also a way of helping him get back on his feet after his health problems, because although his body sometimes fails him, his state of mind is still fully intact. “I started working on the accreditation side of things and as the tournament went on and the work in that department started to dwindle, I have since been assigned to wherever I’m needed the most on any given day,” he says with a smile on his face.

On the pitch, where they both play from a new perspective, Miguel and Junior have found a way to honour the game. They do it with a quiet dedication, with the same passion that a goalkeeper displays between the sticks or that a referee shows when he blows his whistle. They do it because, at the end of the day, football is much more than a game to them, it is part of their life story.