OPPO Inspirational Games: Passionate History of Football

Can you recall one of the most amazing memories in your life? Was it any academic achievement by you or your friends? Was it the utmost happiness on your face after receiving your first paycheck? Or was it the time when your team made a comeback in the second half of the game by beating all odds and won the championship? All these types of fantastic memories are permanently imprinted on our minds. And continuously remind us that anything is possible if we have the courage to make it happen.

The 67-years old history of one of the most inspiring and big Football events - UEFA Champions League is full of such inspiring and heart-warming events. There came certain events in the game where players gave their all on the field as well as made sure to give their hundred percent in practice. By taking a trip down into the memory line, we can still feel the passion involved into each moment. Recollecting inspiring moments of the game is a great therapy for people who tend to lose their self-faith and strength in the times of hardship.

OPPO recently hosted a global campaign for the fans of UEFA Champions League to revive some of the most thrilling games in the history of the competition. OPPO asked football enthusiasts all around the world to nominate the top three most exciting games of the UEFA Champions League’s history. This was followed by finding the eyewitnesses of those games, having an interview with them, and then finally taking these stories into limelight for inspiration of everyone. Being a part of the campaign “Inspirational Game,” OPPO strongly believes that these stories contain full potential of unify worldwide football fans by engaging them all in interesting conversations.

“Watching a game in the stadium is always a treat to your eyes and it draws strongest emotions,” shared by Nam Kunn - A Paris-based photographer and graphic designer. Being a fan of PSG since 2000, Nam was lucky enough to witness the thrilling 4-0 in the first half between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, and the aha moment of 1-6 during the second half as a field photographer. He still rejoices those impregnable emotions of one of the most thrilling games in the history of football.

According to Nam, supporting a club is not just about wearing a jersey with the logo of the club on it. Rather than, it talks more about your philosophy of life and values. Owing to his love for football, Nam started a photography project to record the most encouraging moments of his travels, including football, photography, and fashion. For Nam, football is a culturally diversified sport that unites the people and gives them a chance to share their passion.

Tonín el Torero who owns a famous pub in Madrid and a hardcore fan of Real Madrid would agree with Nam. He shared his stimulating memory when his pub connected total strangers from different countries with football. “It was the passion for football that built bonds,’ said Tonín. He recalled the time when the fans went wild due to a goal scored by their favourite club. That memory was a perfect representation of a community, coming together to enjoy happiness and hope.

Football supplicates our emotions and triggers the underdogs to overrun their competitors. Although we have heard so many energizing stories, OPPO is lucky enough to interview Mike Ferney, a visually impaired football fan. You may wonder “How can a visually impaired person able to watch a football match in a stadium?.” The one-word answer to this question is “Passion.” His childhood passion for football has now made a turn towards a life-long habit and watching each new match pushes him further.

The visual impairment of Mike Ferney has been diagnosed with his birth and this has not impacted his temptation for football, especially for his all-time favourite Liverpool. As we know how difficult life can be sometimes with visual impairment, but Mike was really moved by Liverpool’s victory at Istanbul when he was 13 years old. The success of his club gave him the life lesson “never give up” and Mike described it as one of the biggest takeaways from Istanbul 2005.

“It was 3 nil down against Europe’s best team”, Mike can still feel that feeling of high-intensity game while remembering the story. “It was easy to just give up and bow-down to the opponent, but they continued and what happened next made me believe that, though It is football, it can be applied to our life as well.” Stephan is Mike’s cousin who assists him by narrating the visual description of everything going on the field and he enjoys every minute of standing in the stadium to experience the true aura of matches.

There are more senses to relish at a match than simply watching it, as per Mike. He calls it the “feeling of unity” and that goes way further than just visually experiencing numerous other sensations such as the noise of fans celebrating and the shaking of the ground beneath his feets. For those reasons, even with his visual inability to see things, Mike still feels the games to a great extent and gets inspiration from football.

Mike’s passion for football also pushes him to reach more people to convey his message of not giving up and to inspire them. Whenever Mike feels low in life, he goes to see the matches to feel the vibe. This persistent attitude of Mike is now becoming part of his life and can make a difference in the life of Liverpool’s fans. Mike has just started a podcast - Unfair Rap, where he retells his story to the masses and makes new friends with the same level of enthusiasm about life, and especially about football. It is always a feeling of pure pleasure for Mike to inspire the people around.

Like Mike, passion for football is a shared interest for many of the people around the globe and the advancements in the field of technology empower us to freeze the inspirational moments into ever-lasting memories. Under our core motive “Inspiration Ahead,” OPPO is in pursuit of exploring more ways to let people enjoy sports. OPPO assistive technology enables Mike alike people with visual impairment and other disabilities to get inspiration in their lives. For instance, the cutting-edge Color Vision Enhancement Technology, debuted in OPPO Find X3 series is crafted to enhance the colour identification abilities of people, suffering from colour vision deficiency.

OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator has also made their mark this year and was an enormous success. The aim of the accelerator was to turn innovative ideas with the potential to change the world into reality. We were glad to see some of the inventive ideas such as “exclusive mobile phones for the hearing-impaired” and “machine vision solutions for the visually impaired.” All these proposals cater to some of the social concerns, seeking our attention.

In alignment with its brand preposition “Inspiration Ahead,” OPPO will continue to discover impactful innovations irrespective of the difficulties that lie along the way. Our search for witnesses of “Inspirational Games” has not ended, in fact it marked a new beginning. OPPO will assist more people around the world to get inspiration in life, and everyone can rememorate their own moments of inspiration.