Value Box
Hello theBClog readers, I’m Yağız Yücel. I work as the Corporate Communications Leader at Borusan Cat. In this article, I want to talk to you not about my job, but about a passion that has grown with me for years: football.
For me, football is not just a game. It is a childhood memory hidden in the corner of a poster, the excitement that echoes inside me at the final whistle of a match, the sum of emotions that have withstood the test of time. Now, we are entering a period where those emotions come alive once again. We are in June, and the 2026 World Cup is beginning.
For years, I have been collecting posters, albums, photographs, and various memorabilia from World Cup tournaments. To me, each one is not just an object; it is a small door opening to the past.
Every poster in my collection takes me to another time. Sometimes to my childhood years, sometimes to an unforgettable performance by a football player, and sometimes to those magical moments where millions of people share the exact same excitement... Perhaps this is exactly what makes the World Cup unique.
It is not just a tournament, but a space of memory where the world meets on a single stage with different stories.
A World Cup Journey Among Memories
For me, collecting is partly an effort to preserve time. When I open an old album, I don't just see football players or scores. I relive my life, my expectations, and my feelings from that era. In this journey, there are certain moments that nothing else can replace.
Take the 2002 World Cup, for example. That tournament, where the Turkish National Team finished third in the world, is still as vivid in my memory as the first day. Matches watched in the squares, conversations with friends, joy spilling into the streets... It wasn't just a success; it was a collective happiness.
Exactly 24 years have passed.
Turkey's return to the World Cup rekindles that same excitement within me. As a football fan, I feel proud; as a collector, I feel the thrill of new stories. Because this tournament is not just about the matches. It is also the beginning of new stories that we will look back on years from now.
Time to Collect New Memories
One of the most special moments for a collector is witnessing a new chapter of a story firsthand. I have already started tracking the posters, special publications, and collectibles for this tournament. Because I know that many details that seem "ordinary" today will turn into the most precious memories years from now.
But this excitement isn't limited to the collection alone. Watching the struggle on the pitch, witnessing the birth of new heroes, watching world football from the summit once again... These are feelings that are hard to describe but beautiful to experience.
The True Value of the World Cup
The pieces of this collection I have gathered for years have taught me one thing: The true value of the World Cup is not hidden in trophies or statistics, but in the marks it leaves in people's memories.
An old poster in my hand can revive a joy I experienced years ago. A photograph can bring a forgotten match right before my eyes. An album can suddenly take me back to my childhood.
Actually, this is very similar to corporate life.
At the end of the day, what we remember is rarely the numbers, presentations, or completed projects.
What remains is the time spent together, how we managed a difficult process, the shared excitement of the team, and the impact we left behind.
Just as scores alone don't make a World Cup unforgettable, results alone don't make a company's story valuable. Shared experiences, difficulties overcome together, and the impact left behind are what truly remain in our memory.
Every project, every communication, every small detail we create today is turning into a "collector's item" that we will look back on years later, perhaps without even realizing it.
That is why I am eagerly awaiting the World Cup. Both to feel proud of my country's team and to add new ones to the memories I have collected for years. But also because it reminds me of one more thing: Value is not only hidden in the results we achieve, but in the meaningful moments we collect on the way to that result.
Who knows, maybe years from now, I will remember these days with the exact same feeling—whether I'm looking at a piece in my collection or looking back at my professional life.
Yağız Yücel
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I have spent a significant portion of my life dedicated to corporate communications, strategy, and trying to decipher what people actually mean. Throughout my career across various industries, I have focused on telling stories, crafting messages, and uniting people around shared goals. By day, I weave narratives as a communications professional; by night, I grab my electric guitar and rehearse for a rock star career that hasn't quite materialized yet. As a Divan Board Member of Galatasaray Sports Club, I generate ideas about football, and as a communicator, I strive to make complex ideas accessible. I try to maintain a balanced life somewhere between meetings, presentations, transfer rumors, and guitar solos.