Why do soccer players always walk out to the yard with children?

For football fans, the image of the player holding the hands of children who came to the yard has become very familiar.

This makes us want to find out more: How did the children go to the field with the pre-match requests ?

Medhi Benatia - the captain of the Moroccan team took the rain flag for the girl who represented him.

The touching meaning at the beginning

Each child representing the player is called "player escort" or "match mascot". This tradition only started in the mid 90s.

Unexpectedly, the current English player - Wayne Rooney - could be said to be one of the first representative children in football matches.

This happened in November 1996 during the match between Liverpool and Everton. At that time, Rooney was 11 years old, wearing a blue shirt representing the Everton team with this innocent face.

Wayne Rooney that day and now, when he was 11 years old, he was very charming with the pitch.

Perhaps football love started with Rooney like that. And we easily think that, representing the players will warm up the dream of conquering the ball rolling in every child. The same is true, but the truth is not that simple!

Although children were launched in the late 1990s, it was not until the World Cup in 2002 that the cause was officially revealed.

FIFA said it agreed to join the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in the "Say Yes for Children" campaign (translated: Say Yes to help children).

Between the context of the late decade and early 2000 - the transition between the two millennia - it can be said that sports tournaments have attracted great attention from fans. Meanwhile, children's rights have not been fully realized in many parts of the world.

At this time, the combined campaign from FIFA and UNICEF was a very meaningful and intelligent action. Its purpose is to "improve lives and protect the lives of children around the world" with the expectation that "football will make a difference for children".

Images at the 2002 World Cup.

From that sense, since the 2002 World Cup, children have always been brought to the yard by the fist players. In some matches, they also wear T-shirts with the words "Say Yes".

This is also the most memorable image of the season that year besides the choking ball.

And other unexpected reasons

Originating from such humanistic meaning, but to maintain the image of representative children, there are many other causes.

Some people said that the image of children will remind the teams about good play, carefree and comfortable as children.

Others say children are there to protect the players. Because when the kids are around, anti-fans will not throw indiscriminate objects on the grass!

Also do not forget to mention the story of profit. Later, when the representation of children became popular, many parents were willing to pay fees for clubs, as long as their children were satisfied with the dream of stepping onto the pitch and star players. .

This boy is very excited to shake hands with Messi in the 2014 World Cup.

As for the World Cup, from 2002 onwards, the representative children's program will be co-implemented by McDonald and FIFA sponsors with the name " Future Star".

Each year, hundreds of children, aged 11-17 from more than 70 countries across the five countries participate in this program.

At this year's World Cup, 350 young fans are present in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Sochi. Half of them come from orphanages or low-income families. The other half were "successful" when they passed the creative rounds from McDonald and FIFA.

Children represent at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Anyway, for all of you, to come to Russia this year and meet world football superstars is an unforgettable experience! Who knows, many of them will become famous players like Rooney boy every year.

Football really has a great connection and inspirational power right?

Join the fans in particular and all fans around the world cheer for the 2018 World Cup!