Stories have been circulating worldwide that British World Cup superfan Andy Milne sold his house in order to pay for travel to the US to attend the World Cup.     

"I don't know how the papers got ahold of it," says Milne, 63. "That story went wild!"

To set the record straight: Milne's house (which he and his partner moved out of 13 years ago and have been renting out) is on the market, but it hasn’t sold yet.

But for Milne, known as “that World Cup guy,” he's willing to do whatever it takes to make it to his 10th tournament.

“I love the World Cup,” Milne told PEOPLE in a zoom interview from his home in Northwitch, about 20 miles southwest of Manchester, a month before the World Cup officially kicked off. "I'm obviously desperately hoping that this will be England’s year. It never is. But maybe this time.”

Milne was a middle school and high school biology teacher (and a school soccer coach) before taking an early retirement in 2022, so he could — you guessed it — attend the World Cup, which was in Qatar that year.

“I happened to be on television an awful lot in the first two games,” he says. He was holding his replica FIFA gold cup (nicknamed "Sophie the Trophy") and it ended up being caught by TV cameras “again and again and again.”

Fans started to recognize him and make memes about him. “People in the U.K. would go, ‘Here’s that guy again, it’s him again! It’s him again!” he says. “They started digging out pictures of me at previous tournaments and World Cups. And the moniker 'That World Cup Guy' kind of stuck.” (His book by the same title, "That World Cup Guy," published by Pitch Publishing, was released on May 25.)

“I’m able to tell everyone about the adventures, really,” says Milne, who runs his own business, Treasure Island Challenge (which he describes as an experience similar to a real life episode of Survivor in Koh Tao, Thailand). “There’s some football in there, but it's more of a travelogue."

The travel memoir details the time he fell off an ostrich in South Africa, and when he once drank whiskey with drug smugglers in Zimbabwe. There's also the time he got lost in a favela in Brazil with a carful of German fans.

And when he's not on the road, the passionate soccer fan still plays in an adult league himself every Thursday night with friends.

“I believe I’m Pelé on the pitch and I pretend that my knees still work," he said. “I’m not a great footballer, but I’m a very, very passionate footballer.”

Before retiring, he coached youth soccer for 35 years. His club team is Manchester United, but he also cheers for his local team, Northwitch Victoria F.C.. He enjoys watching his nephew, who plays for Weston-super-Mare A.F.C., and he also likes to watch the Premier League (think Ted Lasso).

But for now, he's got his sights set on Team England ahead of the North American World Cup, which kicks off in Mexico City June 11.

“I’m looking forward to the whole carnival, the festival of it," he says. "It’ s going to be on a grand scale."

As members of the England Supporters Travel Club, he and his friends have guaranteed tickets for every possible England game, so "we are planning on following England all the way to the final, or at least as far as England allow us to dream," he says. "So far, we’ve got intercity travel booked by plane, train, hire car and bus. ... World Cups are never straightforward. That’s half the fun!"

Though Milne has visited some "touristy stuff" in the U.S. — Florida and New York and California, the Grand Canyon and the Las Vegas strip — "there’s a lot of the United States that I haven’t seen,” he says.

He’s never been to Boston or Dallas, and he’s excited to try the food — not to mention to spend time with his every-four-year World Cup-going friends from around the world, a group that grows bigger with every game. "One of the joys of following England is that your friendship group seems to expand in every city," he says.

As for that house he’s selling to help pay for the travel (which will also help cover the costs of a visit to Australia to visit a new grandbaby)? "The home has always been a pension pot,” he says. “It’s on the market. There’s a viewing today, so fingers crossed.”

Read the original article on People