PRESS BOX: What Fans Never See Behind the Scenes at Major Football Tournaments

Renowned sports journalist Godfred Akoto has offered a rare glimpse into life behind the scenes at the FIFA World Cup, revealing that while fans enjoy the spectacle, journalists experience an entirely different tournament.

Speaking in an interview with Kafui Dey, Akoto said covering football’s biggest event demands enormous financial sacrifice, physical endurance and emotional resilience.

“You guys behind the screens enjoy the thing more than us,” he joked. “I was at the World Cup and you watched more games than I did.”

While millions focus on the action on the pitch, Akoto explained that reporters spend halftime racing to finish match reports, arranging interviews and preparing for post-match coverage instead of watching entertainment shows.

“At that point your focus is on so many other things. You’re trying to finish your match reports. You’re making calls to see whether interviews can be done.”

The cost of reporting from a World Cup is another reality rarely seen by audiences.

According to Akoto, a single journalist can spend as much as $15,000 covering a month-long tournament after paying for flights, accommodation, transport and food.

“For an African journalist, where our media houses normally don’t have the financial capacity, it becomes really difficult.”

Then there are the everyday decisions that never make television.

He laughed as he recounted avoiding expensive stadium meals by eating Ghanaian food before every match.

“I would go and hammer the banku for the day, then head to the stadium and just drink water,” he said with a smile after noting that stadium food could cost four times as much.

But beyond the practical challenges are the emotional moments that cameras rarely capture.

Akoto said journalists stationed in the mixed zone witness footballers at their most vulnerable, celebrating victories, hiding disappointment or silently walking past reporters with headphones after painful defeats.

“When the team wins, it takes about two hours before they leave the dressing room. When they lose, within 20 or 30 minutes everybody is coming through with their heads down.”

He also recalled seeing ordinary supporters create extraordinary memories, from thousands of Ghanaians turning American cities into miniature Accras to children meeting their football heroes for the first time.

“You get to see a different side of these boys,” he said of the players. “We tend to see tournaments as just what happens on the pitch, but that chance to connect is really important.”

For Akoto, those unseen moments are what truly define the World Cup.

“It’s not just football. It’s life.”

For him, improving Ghana’s football future is not simply about building more pitches. It is about ensuring that every child who steps onto one does so on a surface that protects, rather than threatens, their dream.