Outbound: Andrea Vílchez

INTERVIEW Fay Harvey
PHOTOGRAPHY Andrea Vílchez

July 29 2026

USA — From Miami to Atlanta, Andrea V

Dreams Are Reality

FH: Tell me about the moment you realized you’d be photographing this tournament in these two locations that mean so much to you, and have also been places where you’ve experienced such growth in your career?

AV: It's funny you ask that because I actually didn't think about it before reading this, that these two places have meant a lot for me and have played huge parts in my career. Even though I don't even live in Miami, the fact that I have family in both places — my mom in Atlanta, and my dad's family in Miami — I feel at home because I am with family, I feel like a local almost even though where I actually live is halfway between those two cities.

It kind of worked out perfectly because I had applied for the World Cup for all the cities, but the way it ended up was that FIFA could only get me for these two cities, and it was perfect. Honestly, I am so grateful that I got to shoot in these two cities because I got really lucky with the games that ended up happening there and also because I know the cities and. It helped me out a lot, and it just adds to my journey and my relationships with those two cities.

FH: You have shot for both club teams and national teams on several occasions, but what makes the World Cup a different environment for you as a photographer?

AV: I think the biggest difference between the other games that are photographed is that the World Cup is the biggest stage for football, I would even go as far as saying of international sport. The stakes are really high, and what can you achieve is really high, and everybody knows that, especially the fans and the people surrounding the teams, so there's this [specific] environment. It can be tense if you're one of the big teams or if you're one of the smaller football nations—it's that hope that you hang onto. It makes all of these emotions that make this beautiful atmosphere inside the stadium and surrounding the whole tournament, and I think that's the biggest difference between photographing a normal match, whether it be a national team friendly or any other kind of tournament for club or national teams.

Phases and Feelings of the World Cup

FH: When entering the Knockouts after an exciting round of group stages, where you saw the likes of Brazil, Cape Verde, Scotland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, was there an energy shift in the stadium and on the pitch as the stakes rose higher and countries were facing an essential “do-or-die” scenario?

AV: There was a different energy between the knockouts and the group stages.

I would say the group stages had more of a celebratory energy to them, more laid-back, more fun, even though the results obviously matter a lot for what place you end up in the group and whether you end up moving on to the next stage or not, but it felt fresh and fun because obviously all the countries are still in it, and it's all the first games that you play, so it felt a lot more like a party, like a celebration.

Then the knockouts is obviously more tense, and you get some of those other emotions in there that are different from the group stages.

FH: Since you had been photographing prior in the group stages, did you have a sort of newfound confidence going into these moments, or did every match feel like a new day with new moments?

AV: I think it's a little bit of both.

I think on one side, I learned a lot throughout each match of little things I should be doing. It's not my first international tournament, but I feel like every time you do these kinds of big tournaments long-haul as a sports photographer, you learn a lot. Sometimes you forget how to do it as well because you're not doing these kinds of big, big tournaments all the time. So just learning from each match what to do for the next match, especially for me because I'm only doing these two stadiums, so getting to learn the stadiums and how to do everything, that helped me a lot during the group stage because then I was better prepared for the knockout games because I knew the stadiums by that time And I planned a little better what else I wanted to do from whatever I had learned during the group stage. There was also that feeling that every match was a new match and I had no clue what the hell was gonna happen in any of the matches and I mean, I feel like it's like that all the time for a sports game right? But truly, I think I was lucky to get some wild games that I don't think anybody predicted that they were gonna go the way they went, so I think everything was new and exciting, so I love that, but that also is something you can't prepare for. The only way you can prepare for it is just like managing whatever you can manage, and then whenever the moment comes to, you just have to be ready for that.

FH: Did you have a pre-match ritual? What would you do before the match started, and how did your mindset fluctuate as the matches went on?

AV: For the match day rituals, I think it was pretty much the same thing for all of the matches. If anything, from the first game to the last one, I might've just gotten more strict with that routine, which is basically just: wake up, get everything ready, and leave as early as possible to the stadium just to make sure I have ample time to get everything ready and do other logistics I needed to do around my equipment or the stadium and whatever and then just photograph fans and whatnot, and just to make sure that nothing goes wrong.

Especially later as the knockouts started because obviously they're bigger matches, so it's just something you have to be prepared for mentally. And just being there, for me at least, just being there as early as I can just calmed me down. It's definitely different from the first match I shot, because even though it was the same routine and I was there super early, I definitely felt a little bit more freedom during the group stage to explore a little bit more and be a little bit more creative. Then, during the knockouts, I was just so focused on the actual matchplay photography and just making sure I was prepared for that.

FH: Equipment-wise, what were you reaching for?

AV: I have all my sport cameras, big lenses are definitely always with me, and during the match they're the ones that I use the most.

But in terms of a camera that even though I didn't need to use it, I wanted to use it, it was definitely the Leica Q2. I used it a lot outside when I was photographing fans and when I was photographing more scenes instead of just match action. And even when there was a celebration, or the players were a little closer to me and that action was happening a little closer to me, I was able to use it and some of the photos I got I really loved with that camera. So I would definitely say the Leica Q2 I kept coming back to and I loved it.

Surreal Moments

FH: Did you have any “pinch me” moments?

AV: I feel like the first pinch me moment that happened to me was definitely Vinicius Jr’s celly. He scored the first goal of Brazil vs Scotland, and he came running straight to where I was and that was my first celebration that I got in the World Cup, like a celebration that came straight to me. The other three matches that I had shot before I had been pretty unlucky in that sense. He came twice to that corner, it was just a little bit of a pinch me moment. I got so much adrenaline from it and I was just so happy, and at the same time, I was like “fuck, I really need to get this, I need to nail this,” and I was lucky that I had the right equipment with me and I was able to capture the celebration in a w ay that I was satisfied with.

For the knockout round of England versus Congo, it's also a similar situation where Harry Kane scored the goal and he came running and he just went crazy and screamed so loud. At the same time, I was sitting next to my boyfriend Gabe and we had both been talking before the game started like “Hopefully we get a celebration.”

Funnily enough, we picked the seats next to each other, but it wasn't really on purpose, it was just like that, and those were the two seats closest to that corner flag. The fact that we got that awesome celebration together and we got to live that adrenaline together was pretty awesome and I think it's definitely the top three moments of the entire World Cup so far for me.

FH: What has been the most vibrant fan base?

AV: Definitely Cabo Verde, even though they're not a huge traveling fan base for obvious reasons, multiple reasons, especially compared to Argentina who I was able to photograph twice, they just had such an amazing energy to them. They were so joyous, their clothes and attire was also very vibrant in and of itself. The people were vibrant, the music, the chants, everything about them was really vibrant—even though Argentina, I think, had the most passionate fan base for sure.

FH: If it’s not too impossible, can you choose a favorite photo and tell me about it?

AV: I think it's really impossible to choose a favorite photo right now, but I think the one that comes to mind is one from outside of the stadium.

It's not even match related, tt's a fan photo, and it's of this Egyptian fan with his face painted and he's walking through to the stadium with the Egypt fan march with smoke behind him.

AV: An on-pitch one though is one of the photos of when Zico from the Egypt team scores and it's the second goal, the goal after he scored and they took it away, so that goal, the emotions from that—it's something I'll never forget. I think that photo is probably one of my favorites because I can look back at it and transport myself to that moment. Honestly, if I were to look at it as an outsider, as a photo critique, or as a photographer, I wouldn't even think about it, I wouldn't look at it twice because it's just another photo of a celebration. But I think the World Cup is about moments and that was one of the craziest, most emotion-filled moments I had experienced because of everything that happened.

I was in this spot because there was only one seat available there when I had switched from my original seat. Egypt was winning in the first half so I decided to go to their side of attacking next to their bench and find that seat because maybe they could win, and I would have never forgiven myself if I wasn't there and they had won, so I grabbed that last chair that was available for me to sit in, and it was just me and like five other Egyptian photographers.

I was next to a photographer that I had actually met, her name is Sam, and Weam (Photographer) had introduced me to her, and we had dinner at their Airbnb [in Morocco during AFCON] and we had long talks and everything. She's amazing, she's a bad ass, and she's such a hard worker too. I saw her in the media center before the match and I knew she was gonna be there ‘cause I had seen she had photographed the other games so I was so happy to sit there and the fact that I got to sit next to her and the other Egyptian photographers when that happened was amazing. They were so happy. She was so happy.

One of my friends that was photographing from the stands got a photo of the celebration and you can see me and her and all of us obviously photographing it. Even though that match meant something to me, in that photo, you can see the difference that they are Egyptian and I'm not because you can see me, I'm just focused, looking at the screen on my camera, making sure I'm getting a celebration ‘cause I didn't wanna mess it up, and they’re all doing the same, but they had these huge smiles on their faces in that photo.

It's amazing. Yeah, I think that's one of my favorite photos just because of the fact that I can transport myself to that moment, and feel those emotions again, even though I don't want to think about what happened after that moment. If I don't think about what happened after that moment, amazing, And I'm just gonna stay delusional in that moment, cause again, that's one of the craziest moments of this experience.

Reflection

FH: When you first began your photography career, was the World Cup a sort of North Star to reach? Did you expect yourself to be in these moments?

AV: 110%.

The World Cup was a dream of mine since I was a kid, to play in it obviously, or to even attend a game and watch it, and then it was only natural for me to set it as a goal as a photographer for once I started working in football.

I would say that I did see myself photographing it. I think I came really close to photographing the Women's World Cup in New Zealand and Australia in 2023, and I remember when I wasn't able to do it, it was such a big disappointment that I felt during that summer, and it hurt a lot, so I think since that moment, I just knew that I had to be in this World Cup, or at least to try, so I definitely expected to see myself here.

I'm really grateful I got to do it and I'm also proud of myself for not giving up or for applying, because there was a time where it was just like everything felt really negative and pessimistic, even for myself I doubted applying, I doubted wanting to photograph it because of everything that was happening. And even though there were so many controversies that deflates you as a football fan surrounding this World Cup, I'm glad that I was there as a photo journalist to just document everything I could, because at the end of the day, that's what I am, I’m a photojournalist, and the fact that I got to document all of this, and it being my first World Cup too, that makes me really happy.

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