Picture from the watch party in Hayden 100.
SARAH ROLKA/ THE QUADRANGLE
Sarah Rolka Asst. Features Editor
Manhattan University’s (MU) Albanian Student Association hosted a soccer watch party for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, with teams Albania vs. Poland, in Hayden Auditorium this past Thursday, March 26. This was the first time the association has hosted a watch party style event and it attained a good turnout.
The World Cup Qualifiers is a series of playoffs for the FIFA World Cup and is an important event for soccer fans around the world. For this watch party event, it was open to everyone to watch and see which of the two teams might progress onto the next round to qualify for the World Cup.
Most people who attended the event were on Albania’s side and hoped that they would come out as the “underdogs” and advance in the Qualifiers. However, even though the majority of those who attended were rooting for Albania, there were some Polish students who came to support the Polish team.
Kristina Camaj, a senior computer science major and vice president of the Albanian Student Association, commented on how surprised she was with the turnout, and that the goal of the event was to bring students of all cultures together and spend time with one another with a more “lighthearted” event.
“I was actually surprised when I walked in at first because we have some new people, because sometimes it’s just us club members,” Camaj said. “We have some Polish students here, we have some alumni…watching as well. [We hosted the event] just to bring students together and watch the game; because all of us are going to watch the game regardless whether it’s at home or with family.”
Lukas Gojcaj, a senior computer engineering major and president of the Albanian Student Association, commented on why a watch party like this helps bring together a community of soccer fans from all cultures.
“The good thing about soccer is that it’s a very worldwide, universal sport – a lot of people can come together even if they’re not even Albanian…,” Gojcaj said. “We want to build a community and nourish [it].”
Watching sports games, whether it be soccer or other types of sport, is an integral part of many different cultures around the world. For many people, it’s a time to bring family or friends together and have those experiences with one another to express pride for your country.
“Soccer games in general bring a lot of feelings of pride towards your culture,” Camaj said. “Watching any soccer game, you can see how passionate fans are to support their country… Even though it’s just soccer, it does blend into a cultural aspect just because you want to support your team and your country.”
Gojcaj agreed and added onto how these types of events bring people of the culture together and how even smaller matches in towns have that same “prideful” effect on everyone.
“I think it’s an important part of any culture because a lot of times [these experiences] help bring communities together,” Gojcaj said. “Even if it’s [just] club level in cities, all the history behind it – behind the games themselves, behind the people playing – everything builds together in a way that makes the game almost have more of an effect on everyone.”
Eduard Zadrima, sophomore and vice president of External Affairs for the Albanian Student Association, agreed with Gojcaj’s statements and additionally commented on how watching sports brings people from the same and different cultures together.
“Usually most people watch [the games] with their families – that’s what I’ve done throughout my life,” Zadrima said. “It was a great idea and I think it’s gone very well, to have a watch party. I loved watching it with people from my culture, and even people who don’t know anything from my culture; we can show them a little bit [of it].”
At the end of the watch party, Albania lost to Poland with a 2-1 score; meaning that Poland advanced in the Qualifiers and went up against the next team. With a successful event like this one, the Albanian Student Association will be planning more for the rest of the semester and onwards. To keep up with upcoming events, follow them on Instagram with @mualbanianclub.