The FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) unveiled the official poster for the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament this week, which will take place in June and July in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Among the three artists behind the artwork is Vancouverite Carson Ting.
One hundred days before the competition begins, FIFA wanted to make a splash by revealing the official poster for the 2026 World Cup on social media and its website.
For the first time in the event’s history, three artists collaborated to create the official tournament poster. Canadian Carson Ting, Mexican Minerva GM, and American Hank Willis Thomas worked together on this project.
“I am completely overwhelmed by this opportunity [that was given to me]. It seems very surreal. I still can’t believe it,” said the artist.
The official poster for the 2026 World Cup soccer tournament, created by Canadian Carson Ting, Mexican Minerva GM, and American Hank Willis Thomas, aims to celebrate diversity and the love of soccer.
Habitual of major sporting events, illustrator and art director Carson Ting runs his own creative studio, Chairman Ting, based in Vancouver. Before working with FIFA, this soccer enthusiast had already collaborated with multinational companies, particularly during the Olympics.
“I worked on the Nike Jordan global campaign for the 2012 London Olympics. I worked for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, but I think the World Cup of soccer is the jewel. It surpasses everything else,” said the artist.
Sport is a very important aspect of his life. He has played soccer since childhood and considers it one of the first sports he practiced, taught to him by his father.
The artist explains that he was selected last summer and then introduced to the other two chosen artists, with whom he held video meetings for several months before meeting at FIFA headquarters in Miami, USA, on October 1, 2025.
They worked around the theme of a common passion for soccer and how the sport unites the world.
“The goal was primarily to celebrate the love of the sport, the love of soccer, embrace diversity, and celebrate this sport on the world’s greatest stage, during the biggest global sports event,” specified the artist.
“After over six months of work, the artists finally managed to bring their ideas together in a composition featuring a player surrounded by symbols and colors of each of the three artists’ countries.”
“I think that the intersection of sport and art embodies humanity in its rawest form. There is so much energy in sports. It abolishes borders, transcends languages, transcends everything,” the artist added.
While the artwork remains virtual for now, it will later be sold as posters and other derivative products.
