Josip Hercog is living his dream.
The young sports fan from Fraser Rise is bound for Russia in June to attend the FIFA World Cup where he will have media accreditation to follow one of his home teams, Croatia.
Josip is leaving in a week to travel via Croatia to visit family and celebrate his 21st birthday before he embarks on his first big gig as a fledgling journalist.
He was two years into a degree in journalism at Deakin University when he landed a job at a Croatian newspaper reporting on local and international sport in January.
This month he received confirmation from the football federation, after a lengthy application process, he would be receiving a media pass for the World Cup – so he deferred completion of his studies for the “opportunity of a lifetime”.
“This is a dream come true for me,” he said.
“I dreamed of playing football all my life. I played for a number of years when I was young, however after a number of knockbacks I decided to think of other things that I could do.
“I love sport so I knew that I wanted to follow sport.”
He’s being mentored by veteran television journalist Peter Hitchener.
“I work and volunteer at six different jobs to get … journalism experience.”
Josip will be in the media box at two Croatia games.
