Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand describes the nerve-wracking experience of presenting the FIFA World Cup draw during the latest Inside Carrington podcast.
Our iconic former centre-back helped host the glitzy ceremony in Washington DC earlier this month, with United States president Donald Trump in attendance and millions of football fans around the world watching live.
Rio also had to contend with an extremely complex draw process, given the World Cup has now expanded to 48 countries being placed in 12 groups.
Rio also had to contend with an extremely complex draw process, given the World Cup has now expanded to 48 countries being placed in 12 groups.
“It was quite a surreal moment, I'll be honest with you,”explains Ferdinand. “You don't ever anticipate, when growing up, that you're going to meet the president of America and you're actually going to address him when you're on stage, hosting an event that. It was quite surreal. But it was a great experience.
“I've watched FIFA draws all my life really, because you're always wanting England to do well and wondering who are we going to get, where are the other teams. So, to be a part of it, was really good. Technical, I must say, and difficult.”
Asked if he was more nervous for the draw or 2008 Champions League final, Rio continues:
“The presentation was miles ahead, in terms of nerves!
“Because, in the Champions League, I'm just doing what I've done for 15 to 20 years. You're nervous, and there's a bit of fear, but there was a lot of fear and a lot of nerves with the draw, because it's the unknown and also the technicalities.
“The fella - I forget his name now - who was telling me how to do it and guiding me, he was unreal. He was brilliant and knew everything. But when I was asking him questions prior to doing the show, his answers were maybe to give me two or three points for the answer. And I'm thinking, ‘right, I've got to give that to the crowd and to the millions of people watching in one answer, not two or three’.
“It was quite nerve wracking. Until the day we did a rehearsal, on the morning of it, I was like to my missus, ‘this could go really, really, really, really, really badly’.”
Rio is comfortable in front of the cameras, of course, after forging a successful media career that began during his playing career at United, at the time, launching his own magazine that eventually led to his official YouTube channel.
As MUTV viewers might recall, ‘Rio’s Tour Diaries’ became a staple of our pre-season programming in the summer.
“I don't remember how it came about,
“ he conceded. ”
Was it me who asked or the club who asked? I'm not sure. But we came to some sort of [arrangement] for how we'll do it.
“I just felt quite natural with it. I used to look at things like I'm a fan and I used to think ‘I would love to get behind the scenes on a tour, imagine being on a tour and seeing what the lads are doing in their downtime, who's the best at table-tennis, do they play pool, do they play run-outs, hide and seek, what do they do?’
“I wanted to see that as a fan and I used to think it'd be nice to give that to the fans. Some of the lads are a little bit standoffish and ‘what the hell is this, what's going on here?’ But then some of the guys were just really calm and they loved it.”