Obscure former Sheffield Wednesday and Liverpool winger to play surprising important role for Qatar in World Cup opener

But one familiar face could flash across their TV screens on Sunday as hosts Qatar open the competition against Ecuador in a match that will be watched by billions.

That’s because former Owls winger Richie Partridge, who spent a solitary season at Hillsborough before moving on to Rotherham United, is head physio for the Qatari national team.

Ex-Republic of Ireland youth international Partridge was a highly-rated prospect at Liverpool’s famed academy before making the switch to Wednesday after promotion to the Championship in 2005.

Injuries impacted what looked to be a bright future for the wide man and he was released by Brian Laws at the end of his only Owls season before spending the following campaign at Rotherham United.

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It was during his time in South Yorkshire that his journey to the World Cup began, though, when he joined the University of Salford in 2005 – at the age of just 24 – to study physiotherapy.

He balanced a further degree – Football Rehabilitation at Edgehill University – alongside a career that took him to Chester City, MK Dons and Stockport County before retirement in 2013.

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His physiotherapy career took him back to Liverpool in 2009 where he acted as academy physiotherapist before working his way through the under 21s to Jurgen Klopp’s first team from 2016 until March 2020, when he was offered the opportunity to make the move to Qatar.