Trapped World Cup flag holder ‘nearly rolled up like a blunt’ as pitch footage goes viral
The World Cup is one of the biggest stages on the planet, so if there is ever a time you do not want anything to go wrong, it’s there
A flag carrier (top right) was too slow for the flag(Image: Polymarket Sports)
By now, you will be familiar with the pre-match ritual at the start of every World Cup match. The players waddle out, the crowd cheers and a large number of people on the pitch unravel flags the size of Wales, just in time for the national anthems.
The drapes remind the fans, well…those who need it, which countries are playing. They are also a nice little visual aperitif for the spectators as the players sing, or not sing, their national anthems with the same talent and quality as Katie Price’s Eurovision audition.
While the anthems and pre-match ceremony are supposed to be a sporting starter before the matches themselves, one poor flag carrier nearly became the main course for the very cloth they were carrying. Their timing was off, resulting in them being wrapped up, in the words of one fan on social media, “like a blunt”.
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The embarrassing incident took place as the flag carriers folded their respective national symbols back together. Unfortunately for said flag carrier, they happened to be teamed with a set of nuclear-charged atoms who stormed to their positions at the speed of light.
Like a baby wildebeest in the Great Migration, he could not keep up with the others and was gobbled up by the giant material. Not everybody can say they were eaten and spat out by Czechia, but that person can. They had little sympathy on social media, where one fan said: “Dude almost got rolled up like a blunt lol.”
At first glance, it’s difficult to see what actually happened. Unfortunately, with over 49,000 people in the stadium, his fall from grace was recorded by one eagle-eyed spectator.
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Perhaps the most surreal moment of the incident was the fact he was dragged along the ground after being wrapped up in the garment. His sheer weight did not slow anything down, he was just taken along for the ride.
Nobody else in his team seemed to notice what happened until the very end. At the end, one person cottoned on to his devourment when they were in the final folding stages of the flag. They rallied the troops to rescue them by lifting up the flags, allowing them to see the light at the end of the flag tunnel and crawl out the other side.
It may be a stretch to say this was a near-death experience, but if it’s not the closest one person has come to being physically eaten by a flag, then it most certainly is the closest yet.
What is certain is those in the know will never let the poor person forget what happened in front of the eyes of millions. Unfortunately for Czechia, on that day, they were not as ruthless in front of goal.
The South Koreans emerged 2-1 winners over the eastern Europeans. Things did not get much better for Tomas Soucek and co in their next match as they were held to a 1-1 draw by South Africa.
They will need to overcome host nation and already qualified Mexico in their final match to give themselves a chance of qualifying for the round of 32. When it comes to the person who was eaten by the flag, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether their tournament came to an end.
It’s also possible they left the country in a bid to run away from their embarrassment. What it does serve as is a warning to the other flag carriers in the tournament. One mis-step, one hesitation or one day dream and you will become a seismic flag’s lunch.
Upgrade your World Cup TV setup with the Sky Glass ‘designed for football’
Sky is knocking 20% off its entire range of Glass TVs to mark the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Until June 17, shoppers can upgrade to the Sky smart TV that’s ‘designed for football’ from £4.50 per month when taken alongside a Sky TV and Netflix package.
