Fans change work-life schedule to catch World Cup action 13.5 time zones away

Kolkata: Football fans across Kolkata are getting ready to fight sleep deprivation, haywire daily routines and juggle office work even as they stay up late and wake up early to catch Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar and Mbappe in action. It will be a sleepless month and a half for the football-crazy city since the Kolkata favourites — Brazil and Argentina — will be playing their matches at unearthly hours 12.5 to 13.5 time zones away . Yet, diehard fans are not willing to miss the action.The Argentina Fan Club in Gangulybagan will put up a giant screen on June 14 for Argentina’s first match against Algeria at 6.30 am on June 17. More than a thousand fans are expected to gather to catch Messi in action in his last World Cup. “The timings are odd but waking up early won’t be an issue for most of us. We have more than 2,000 members who will be sporting the blue and white jersey on match days and we will watch the matches together. Never mind the timings, we will alter our schedules to accommodate the World Cup over the next six weeks,” said Uttam Saha, secretary of the fan club.It will be a big party for Argentina fans when they play Austria at 10.30 pm on June 22. “That match will have a bigger audience since it gets over by midnight. We expect hundreds more to join and it will be like watching at the stadium,” said Saha, who already informed his colleagues that he will start work late on Argentina match days.Brazil fan Kajal Saha, an employee of a US firm, has requested his office seniors to allow him a flexible work schedule during the World Cup. “Since the event is being hosted by the US, I guess the authorities will be lenient and accede to my request. I expect the online meetings to be deferred a little when matches are held early in the morning in India,” he said.Saha is planning to watch the matches with his daughter, also a Brazil fan, instead of friends. “My friends had planned to watch the matches together but it will be difficult since Brazil’s first match against Morocco starts at 3.30 am on June 14. So, we will watch the group matches at home. As the Cup progresses and the giants clash from the second round, we will be getting together to catch the action on a giant screen,” he added.Debayan Sarkar, a mass communication student at St Xavier’s University and a member of the Arsenal Bengal Fans Club, plans to join gatherings to watch the matches. “For Arsenal matches, we have official match screenings every year. Some of our members are taken to London to watch Arsenal games. So, during the World Cup we will be having some screenings.”Souparna Dutta, a student of microbiology, said he was looking ahead to ‘watch parties’. “They have surged rapidly in recent times. Fans have started planning them and the one being organised by Sarfira Experiences, which holds them in local pubs with affordable rates for students, seems interesting,” he said.The 20-year-old also pointed out how these parties act as a space of collective identity. “Since early 2025, Kolkata has hosted watch parties regularly for European league matches. I really like the idea of the same since it connects people and fosters a sense of togetherness.”Some restaurants and pubs like Chapter 2 on Southern Avenue will be decked up in a ‘World Cup’ theme. “The match timings will not allow fans to watch the matches live at the restaurant but we will keep beaming the repeat telecasts on our giant screen and expect fans to turn up in good numbers,” said owner and co-founder Shiladitya Chaudhury.