Doctors are, surveys say, one of the very last professions you should date if spending time with your partner is paramount. They work extensive, incommodious hours and, furthermore, invariably take tasks home with them.

Dylan Manickum doesn’t get to pass many hours with the girlfriend he met many moons ago. He says Zoe Wells works “really long hours” as a doctor, and yet he knows – a guilty grin acting as vindication – he’s the chief offender.

The 31-year-old spends his weekdays in steel-toed boots, a hi-vis jacket and a hard hat, working from early morning to late afternoon as an assistant engineer on a construction site. He rushes from the day job straight to the evening one, where he trains or coaches five nights a week – and in multiple sports.

Manickum is an 11-a-side winger for Oceania’s untouchable superpower Auckland City, he captains the same club and the New Zealand national team at futsal, and he teaches kids at both disciplines. His weekends are dominated by matches on pitches or courts.

Then Zoe has to deal with the trips away. Dylan’s latest was a little further than to Christchurch or Dunedin on New Zealand’s South Island for a domestic game, or to Fiji, New Caledonia or Vanuatu, where he has played in the OFC Champions League. It was 15,500 kilometres to Jeddah for the FIFA Club World Cup™.

It was worth it. While some players bound for this year’s FIFA Futsal World Cup™ are able to say they shared a court with the great Ricardinho, and fewer with the immortal Falcao, Manickum can boast of sharing grass with N’Golo Kante and Karim Benzema.

The exhilarating creator chats to FIFA about that Saudi Arabia 2023 experience, his Uzbekistan 2024 hopes, the Futsal Whites’ emergence and his uber-hectic lifestyle.

How did it feel to share a pitch with Fabinho, N’Golo Kante, Karim Benzema and Co at the FIFA Club World Cup?
Dylan Manickum: Unbelievable. They’re superstars of the game. You dream of playing against the best players, but you never think you’re going to play against someone of the calibre of Benzema. It was a real honour. We wanted to get a result, we held them for a bit, but they were just too good. Still, the experience was something I’ll always remember. The accommodation, the facilities, the flights… everything was world-class. We don’t usually get that here in New Zealand. We also all get on really well. It was really nice to be around the fellas.