Teen faces anxious wait for chance of a lifetime job

An unbridled passion for The World Game has a Melbourne-year-12 graduate on tenter-hooks awaiting - not her year-12 results - but the dream job of a lifetime.

In September, 3-finalists for each of the six continents were selected and notified, and the name Alex Giannakis was among them. (SBS) Source: SBS

Aspiring journalist Alex Giannakis has reached the final 3 in a competition to become a globe-trotting football reporter and presenter. 

Peter Giannakis remembers tossing his baby daughter Alex skyward when his old club South Melbourne found the back-of-the-net. The passion for all-things football infiltrated her DNA, and at 18-she confesses she’s obsessed with the world-game.

“I think about it every day - there is no doubt about it - every single day - check scores of any major leagues anything to tide me over - if there's some game of some tiny league in some obscure league in some country I'll watch it,” she said.

Earlier this year, Alex was one of thousands of football enthusiasts around the world to apply for a reporting role with Copa-90 - an internationally renowned on-line soccer channel. The successful applicants would work full-time sourcing and filing nothing but soccer stories.

Aspiring journalist Alex Giannakis has reached the final 3 in a competition to become a globe-trotting football reporter and presenter. (SBS) Source: SBS

In September, 3-finalists for each of the six continents were selected and notified, and the name Alex Giannakis was among them.

Alex says she was hoping to study journalism next year, making the job even more appealing.  The 18-year old believes her point-of-difference is a passion for rich and authentic tales from the sport's grass-roots

“I know about the little people - lots of people know about the big players in the game and massive clubs all over Europe. I know what's around me and I know it well,” She said.

Peter Giannakis says his daughter has loved the game since the early days at South Melbourne, and over the past few years it developed into a passion.

“Probably in the last 3-4 years it was obvious that Dad did you see the result? Or she text me - she'd be watching a game and I'd be at work and she'd be texting scores and I'm going she's right into it - this is amazing,” he said.

If successful Alex will be forced to defer her preferred Journalism studies for next year, but says it's a small price to pay.

The successful applicants will be announced in January next year.