The UEFA Europa League Finals took place on the 22nd of May, 2024 at the Aviva Stadium / Dublin Arena. The capital city of Ireland was buzzing with the football fans from Germany, Italy and other parts of the globe arriving to watch the football extravaganza.

The preparations for the finals by the UEFA team had started months ago. Considering the stature and importance of the finals, UEFA had to ensure all the elements are in place to give the spectators, media, players and all others involved with the finals a great time.

Football is all about team work. Yes , there will be a coach , assistant coaches, support staff , etc. who set out the plan and tactics for the big day. Finally , it’s the players who have to perform on the pitch.

Every big football finals gets going with the pre kick off ceremony. This is one of the most important moments as this sets the tempo and momentum of the game that will unleash in front of the millions of audience watching the game from across the globe.

UEFA understands the significance of volunteers who are essential to bring together a spectacular show. The process of finding the right set of volunteers started almost five months ago.

It was in January 2024 , the opportunity came across to apply for the volunteer position of UEFA Europa League Finals. For a passionate football fan like myself, this was a dream come true to be part of one of the biggest football sporting events.

Shortlisted, completed the interview and then closer to the match day there was regular updates coming from the UEFA & FAI team. Paul & Ciara had by now become the familiar faces for most of the volunteers.

Finally got an update from the UEFA volunteers management team that I was going to be part of the Ceremonies team or rather the Ceremonies Makers :).

The training schedule came in and the ask was for 5 days of training before the finals. The first day of the training / rehearsals were going alright before the rain decided to play spoilsport. The day was cut short and hence didn’t get much chance to interact with other volunteers.

The next day , Friday evening, the weather was grand and things were moving at pace. The rehearsals always had a break of 20-30 minutes in between to just give a breather to all and also for the lead team to ensure things are going as per their plan.

All this while , Stacey from UEFA kept the buzz going on the WhatsApp group and also gave the timely reminders , tips, etc.

Adam , Andy and James – literally the coach , assistant coaches of this ceremonies event were making sure that the spirits are always high. These three from the Events 360 team along with Julian, Elodie, Georgia were always there to support the volunteers and also to bring them back to subtle seriousness of the event .

The volunteers were quick to get in to their groove, the first break on Friday evening witnessed people moving into groups and starting mini conversations. While many occupied the places near to the fence of the FAI’s massive football pitch , there was a group who decided to get the ball rolling.

The first of many games amongst the volunteers thus kicked off. It started with heads and volleys , with few simple rules . The whole game turned into a good ice breaking session for the volunteers. This then moved into a 6 a side game. The game which started at a slow pace quickly garnered intensity and with people watching from the touch lines , it was a good competitive game. Steven the lead volunteer who supported with everything that needs to be there for us , had a tough time bringing us back from these 6 a side games :).

This continued the next day as well. However , it was the last day of rehearsals at the FAI facility and the last game of 6 a side saw a total of 5 goals scored with the final score at 3-2. Lots of amazing players and few who just joined in to have fun, the best part of the off the pitch volunteering experience.

The group of 50+ ceremonies makers and 50+ dancers entrusted with one task – the pre kick off ceremonies to be the best one witnessed so far in any international football tournament.

Perfection was the key word here. While the dancers were catching their beats on 1-8 tempo, the volunteers were in a different rhythm.

3-2-1 down, 3-2-1 lift, 3-2-1 up will be still buzzing in the ears of all the ceremonies volunteers. Adam, Andy and James kept using this methodology right from the start of the rehearsals. This indeed helped each and everyone to settle in easily and instilled confidence.

The amount of work that goes at the back end to put together a 5 minutes of fantastic performance is immense. Until now , I have only seen this on the TV and was always curious about the whole process behind this.

For those who were part of this project would know how heavy the banners are actually, the speed at which each one of us had to move in tandem to make sure no one takes a fall and finally the pressure as well as excitement to get it done without any hiccups.

The most time consuming, tedious yet rewarding task on each day was the folding of the big UEFA banner , yes 2-1 fold must be ringing in the ears of all volunteers while reading this .

With two days of training inside the Aviva , we were all set for the big day. On the match day , everyone came in early , got their special costumes on, then a quick debrief and all dancers , volunteers and the complete unit came together for a small celebration before we moved to the stadium .

7:45 pm on 22nd May , 2024 will be etched to the best memories in life for these 100+ people . We the ceremonies volunteers along with the dancers stepped on to the pitch with 50,000 people watching us inside the stadium and millions watching us on the television.

The noise decibels were high , blue and red flags flying high on all sides of the pitch , fans cheering each step taken by us… oh yes , indeed a joyous special moment in life.

The importance of the 3-2-1 routine was understood now. We could not hear anything because of the noise level inside the stadium and it was the 3-2-1 count down by Adam , Andy and James with their hands up in the air that made sure that the ceremony was a success.

2 min 15 seconds was the magic number Andy kept saying – 1 min 30 seconds to pick up the big UEFA Europa League flag and 45 seconds to walk off the pitch. The time that we had to clear all the banners from the pitch. After all the hi-fi and pump fists done celebrating the successful outing on to the pitch , when I got a chance to say hi to Adam , just asked him ‘how did we do on the timing?’ . Adam replied with a big smile ‘1 min 13 seconds … 15 seconds better than we have ever done so far’

20 years of experience in the events for Adam and team. The dedication and commitment is amazing, Adam flying just after kick off to make sure they are ready for the FA Cup finals , says it all.

It was a great experience working with each one of them and the fellow volunteers. Of course , Conor has the count of who all turned up for all 6 days and of others who managed to join only for 2-3 days. However, it was a team effort and people supporting each other by letting them know what needs to done to get moving ahead,

Each of the volunteers had a story of their own for being part of this special project. We had dad and son pairing, couples , football enthusiasts, tour guides , round UEFA C/B license coaches and many like me from a different nation now in Ireland who want to be always close to football .

15+ nationalities, 50+ volunteers, age group from 20 to 60 , with one mission – an amazing Ceremony event.

Thank you to each one who were involved in this project – the UEFA team, FAI, Events 360, Mass Movement- Cristian, Robo Mark , the dancers and all my fellow volunteers, most of them who are good friends now.