Anuja Bagri, 25, tells PEOPLE her mom’s journey from soccer novice to FIFA volunteer inspired millions and reminded her family it’s never too late to try something new
Ashley Vega
Thu, July 9, 2026 at 3:59 PM PDT
4 min read
Credit: Anuja Bagri
NEED TO KNOW
- Content creator Anuja Bagri documented her mom learning soccer from scratch after she unexpectedly landed a FIFA volunteer role
- What started as preparation for one event turned into a family bonding experience centered around learning the sport together
- Her mom tells PEOPLE the experience changed how she views soccer, volunteering and stepping outside her comfort zone
Just a few weeks before she stepped onto the field at a FIFA tournament, Aparna Bagri was still trying to make sense of the offside rule. By the time the national anthems echoed through the stadium, the woman who had once known almost nothing about soccer found herself immersed in the emotion of one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
When her daughter, content creator Anuja Bagri, 25, shared a TikTok video documenting her mom’s crash course in the sport before the tournament, viewers couldn’t get enough.
“I thought it was so cool that no matter your age, you can always pick up something brand new, and that’s genuinely inspiring to watch,” Anuja tells PEOPLE.
The opportunity itself came as a surprise. Aparna says she and her husband, Samir, have always enjoyed volunteering in their community, but sporting events had never been on her radar until Samir encouraged her to apply nearly a year before the tournament.
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“I thought, ‘I wonder if I’d even make it?’ So I applied, and I’m so glad I did, because the experience has been even more rewarding than I ever imagined,” she says. After submitting the application, she forgot all about it until an email invited her to interview for the role.
Aparna assumed organizers would be searching for lifelong soccer fans, but the conversation focused instead on qualities like teamwork, empathy and community. When she learned she had been selected for the Ceremonies team, she says it marked “the beginning of an experience of a lifetime.”
Growing up in India, Aparna says sports conversations mostly revolved around cricket, with tennis occasionally entering the mix. She says she had never followed soccer — or “football,” as she grew up knowing it — closely or experienced a live match, so she decided it was finally time to understand why billions of people around the world love it.
That decision quickly became a family affair. Anuja and Samir joined Aparna as they learned not only the rules of the game but also the countries, flags and stories behind each team.
“The offside rule definitely took more than one explanation before it finally clicked,” Aparna says with a laugh. “Learning something completely new with my family cheering me on became one of my favorite parts of the whole experience.”
Credit: Anuja Bagri
The videos documenting those study sessions resonated with viewers, though Anuja never expected them to. She says people especially latched onto the spirited debate in the comments over whether the game should be called “soccer” or “football.”
“My mom diving into soccer felt like the perfect ‘side quest summer’ moment,” Anuja says. “It was also so fun to see how many people connected with her and said that this inspired them to start signing up for unique experiences like this.”
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For Aparna, the preparation made the payoff even sweeter. Standing on the field before kickoff remains the moment she’ll never forget.
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“I could feel the excitement, pride and energy fill the entire stadium, and it truly hit me that I was part of something so much bigger,” she says. What surprised her most, however, was how deeply she fell in love with the experience, volunteering for even more matches after originally signing up for just four.
Today, Aparna says she still doesn’t consider herself a soccer expert, but she now understands why the sport inspires so much passion around the world. “It’s about so much more than the matches,” she says. “The pride people feel for their countries, the emotion of the national anthems, the incredible fans, the friendships you make and the way one event can bring people from all over the world together.”
Read the original article on People
