On July 2nd, two boys from Houjie Town of Dongguan carried FIFA flags before the 2018 FIFA World Cup final 16 gameround of 16 match between Brazil and Mexico.

The boys Chen Fangzhuo and Chen Jiancong are students from Dongguan Middle School and Xintang Primary School, respectively.

 Chen Fangzhuo (middle) and Chen Jiancong (left) in a football match.

Chen Jiancong said he shook hands with almost every player from both teams on the night. He is so proud to have been a flag bearer at the World CupBoth of them are football lovers who take part in training during summer and winter vacations, and avidly watch football matches.

In the competition to become 2018 FIFA World Cup Flag Bearers in March this year, the two boys were required to demonstrate their skills in spoken English, football and endurance.

“It (to be a World Cup flag bearer) feels like a dream and I still can't believe it is true.” said Chen Fangzhuo in an earlier interview.

The FIFA World Cup Flag Bearer Program is one of the exclusive rights granted to Wanda by FIFA. Wanda has recruited 384 children aged between 12 and 17 worldwide to act as FIFA Flag Bearers before every FIFA World Cup match.

It is the first time in World Cup history for Chinese flag bearers to have such a presence.

Other "Made in China" elements were also be present at the competition.

For example, the soccer balls in the World Cup matches were produced in Guangdong's Dongguan city, where the two boys are from and also one of the renowned manufacturing center.

A representative from the company providing the soccer balls has stated that their soccer balls had to go through a grueling testing process to meet FIFA regulations, with a requirement that the logos and patterns on the balls themselves must stay intact after having been whacked by testing equipment 3,500 times at a speed of 60 km/h. The assembly line used can produce up to 1,000 such soccer balls each day.

VIVO, a Dongguan-based smart phone manufacturer, has become the official smart phone supplier of Russia World Cup and the next two World Cups. VIVO has signed an agreement with FIFA and the two sides will cooperate in the fields of products and marketing in the next 6 years.

Reported by Will

Edited by Simon