Rio Ferdinand explains surprise World Cup decision after 'humbling' experience hosting draw
Rio Ferdinand has revealed his special plans for his "first" World Cup where he will not be present as a player or a pundit.
The former Manchester United defender represented England in two World Cups and after retirement, provided punditry for the BBC at the showpiece.
But having taken a step back from punditry to focus on his 'Rio Ferdinand Presents' podcast, the 47-year-old experienced a career highlight back in December when he was tasked with hosting the draw for the 48-team World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
It was a different type of feeling from lifting trophies galore with Manchester United, with a whole lot of responsibility in front of millions of people watching.
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“You’ve got Donald Trump in the building, the president, flying about and all these big superstars that have achieved ridiculous achievements over the course of their careers," Ferdinand told SPORTbible on his experience hosting the World Cup draw.
“A kid from Peckham, to be standing up there, hosting and controlling the whole thing with my co-host at the time, it was quite a humbling experience.
“There was a lot of work that had to go on behind the scenes, you could probably sense on watching it, the technicalities within the draw were just mind-boggling but we got there in the end.
“It was a great experience and without my media career I wouldn’t have been able to get through it unscathed.
“When I do live TV you wear the earpiece and you’ve got people in trucks in different parts of the country giving you countdowns in and out of segments.
“I was used to that because of my experience on TV and all that stuff that was going on during the draw, it was a lot of information being put into you.
“To be able to talk to the audience and the millions and understand when you’re in and out of the show, reacting to balls being pulled out of the hat - there was too much to think about but I had good help from the people working at FIFA.”
Ferdinand had been a regular pundit for TNT Sports on their Premier League and Champions League coverage. But he switched permanently to his podcast, alongside Joel Beya and Ste Howson.
The channel, which has 1.57 million subscribers on YouTube and bagged an interview with Cristiano Ronaldo, recently won the SJA (Sports Journalists' Association) YouTube Channel of the Year'.
"I’ve got a handle on where the topics start and where they finish," Ferdinand said, discussing the freedom of the successful venture away from mainstream media.
“There are no time constraints. People don't probably see that there's a countdown in your ear every time you're talking to get out of the conversation because there's adverts and stuff like that.
“17 years ago I started doing this with a digital online magazine and that's now pivoted into video content. And this is more of a global reach. We’re not geoblocked because of a big corporation in the UK.
“This is a global operation that can go anywhere in the world. And we look at our comments, we look at our community that we've built out. They're from every part of the world.
“You're governed a bit more when you work in in sort of big corporate companies and there's certain structures to the way programming is and the way things are getting shot and they're put out.
“There’s a lot more freewheeling when there's not that red tape that we've got to go through and we've not got to stay within certain parameters."
With the World Cup just around the corner, it's no surprise that the channel have big plans in terms of how they cover the football extravaganza.
They are not pencilled in for any games just yet but Ferdinand and his firm have teamed up with Airbnb to launch ‘The Ultimate Quarter-Final Getaway’ - a once-in-a-lifetime football experience which will offer lucky fans the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes at a podcast recording featuring a special guest, stay in a private, two bedroom Airbnb in host city Los Angeles and be in attendance for a World Cup quarter-final.
A private chef service is also on offer for the packed four-day itinerary, where four spots are available for free - with each winner allowed a plus one.
"We're going to be obviously based out in LA and New York for the World Cup and we're going to be taking the channel out there," Ferdinand said of his World Cup plans.
“So we're going to be there for the whole time. I see myself, Ste and Joel will be there causing havoc, flying around the two cities and obviously being in an Airbnb as well.”
“It creates that kind of home from home feel. You rock up with your suitcases, them out and all your soft touches are there.
“I said to my team over a year ago, ‘I want to make sure that I want to go to a World Cup where I'm not going to be playing.
“I won't be working for the BBC or any other channels that I worked for before.
“So we've got in a good position now where the channel is really doing well and we have the ability to take it out there and we can go and just chill and have a laugh and create some great content while sitting there having a barbecue amongst loads of other stuff.
“We want to create that homey vibe, we’ll have a gym there. This is going to be a different experience. We want them to get involved in a debate as well and sit there and talk football with us like we would normally.
“It’s just we're going to add eight strangers that we've never met before in amongst it.
“But we'll have some of the biggest names coming through the house as well, which is going to be great. It's going to be an open house for people from different worlds,entertainment, sport, music, they'll be coming through.”
“To go to a World Cup with your mates and have a laugh is unbelievable. It’s brilliant. I can’t wait to be part of that and this is going to be my first one.”
Topics: Rio Ferdinand, England, FIFA World Cup
Josh Lawless