Memorable Moments: A Wedding on the Field in The World Cup 1998
Have you ever thought that you would celebrate your wedding among football fans who do not know you at all, and inside a huge stadium and on an event watched by millions around the world from east to west? This is what actually happened in the World Cup 1998, on the grass of the velodrome stadium in Marseille.
The World Cup 1998 draw placed Brazil with Norway in Group A and set a date for a match that would bring them together in the third round of group matches, the two lovers (Norwegian Oivind Ekeland) and (Brazilian Rosangela de Souza) were thinking together about setting a date for the wedding party.
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After the International Football Association (FIFA) decided to determine the match between Brazil and Norway on June 23, 1998, a crazy idea came to the two lovers' heads, to hold the wedding on the same day as the match!
Not only that, but they also decided to raise the ceiling of dreams and ambitions to the highest status, and they thought of holding the wedding ceremony at the match stadium, which will witness the meeting of their national teams (Brazil and Norway), which is the (Velodrome Marseille) stadium in France.
In order to achieve all this, they had to present an urgent invitation to the table of (FIFA), who was then president (Joseph Blatter), asking to be allowed to hold a simple party in the middle of the stadium of the Brazil-Norway match before the start of the match.
FIFA has studied this request well, and it seems that the love story between (Oivind and Roseangela) has influenced the members of the International Football Association, so they finally decided to give the green light for the marriage ceremony to take place at the stadium in Marseille!
FIFA asked the couple not to make any statements to the newspapers and the media before holding this ceremony so that FIFA would not receive thousands of similar invitations, especially since the tournament was preparing for the knockout stages.
FIFA spokesperson at the time, Keith Cooper, came out in an exceptional speech in response to the two lovers’ request, in which he said: “We all know that football always brings people together in the spirit of love, friendship, and brotherhood, so we accept your request.”
And so on; Oivind, in his black suit, and Roseangela, in her delicate white dress, were officially declared husband and wife by a Catholic priest, inside the Marseille Velodrome, one hour before the start of the Brazil-Norway match, amid violent applause from the crowd that filled the stands.
As for the match, Norway beat Brazil 2-1 and qualified together for the round of 16 in the 1998 World Cup, so the couple's happiness became double.