Which Brand Will Win the World Cup?
The planet’s most globally viewed sporting event is approaching. Opportunities are rife, but nailing the delivery requires global, local, digital, and physical nous.
In the next two months, brands will be battling it out in an attention economy fiercer than fashion week. Comprising 48 national teams, the World Cup — broadcast from the US, Canada, and Mexico — will stretch across time zones, languages and communities, serving as a lucrative cultural platform for labels to capitalize on. Hot on the heels of an international marathon circuit that saw sports incumbents from Nike to Hoka vying for campaign attention, and a historic Premier League — won by Adidas-kitted Arsenal FC for the first time in 22 years — the stakes are high, but the opportunity is promising.
Historically, brands from Urban Outfitters to Martine Rose have tapped into the World Cup, partnering with artists, musicians, and athletes to aid their branded storytelling — and, in effect, earn a return on investment. Adidas reportedly spent an approximate $67 million on its hero World Cup campaign film, Backyard Legends, released early May, counting 5.4 million TikTok views, 2.4 million Instagram likes, and 4.7 million YouTube views in its first two weeks. “We start planning for the tournament years in advance,” says Alasdhair Willis, Adidas’s chief creative officer. The brand started teeing up its World Cup way in advance. “The reaction to the Trionda [the official match ball, designed by Adidas] and home kit launches last year gave us a high level of confidence for 2026.”
Blockbuster campaigns and product collaborations are not the only ways to tap in. As more players express their personal style off the pitch, the “tunnel walk” opportunities are plentiful. “When a luxury house aligns a ‘clutch’ [washbag or accessory] piece with a player’s pre-game fit, it’s a masterclass in relevance,” says Keenan Thomas, national account manager at youth culture agency Archrival. “It’s about showcasing luxury in a high-energy, real-world context.” Thomas pinpoints France star soccer player Kylian Mbappé, who fronted Jonathan Anderson’s Dior’s summer 2026 campaign, as well as England player Jude Bellingham, who has been an ambassador of Louis Vuitton since 2024.
By betting or investing in athletes, brands build visibility through clout and sheer exposure. Per Fifa, the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France, hosted in Qatar, counted some 3.5 billion viewers, an increase from the 1.12 billion — then, more than half the world — who tuned into the final between France and Croatia in Russia. That same year, five billion fans — in a global population of eight billion — engaged with the 2022 tournament across all media (digital or social media, satellite and cable television, or Fifa’s platforms). In fact, according to Peter Kalmbach, senior analyst at Archrival, World Cup watch numbers have risen continuously since 2006, when internet viewership beat any other medium.
The situation this year is especially favorable for brands wanting to tap into strong sports fandoms, says Chris Beer, senior data journalist at GWI. “Mexico is a mature market for soccer, with eight in 10 consumers there following the sport,” he says, flagging that Canada and the US are where fresher growth opportunities lie, with “less than half currently engaging with it in each country”.
The insights platform also reports that 32% of all consumers are interested in luxury collaborations with sportswear brands. Nike’s rollout has already mirrored this, ushering in collaborations such as Palace x England x Football Beyond Borders, Jacquemus x France x Sport Dans La Ville, and Patta x Netherlands x Favela Street. Likewise, Adidas aired its Willy Chavarria Fall/Winter 2026 collaboration during Paris Fashion Week, making ample use of the outing to spotlight its Trionda ball and the Copa Mundial Megaride sneaker.
On socials, so far so good. “On Pinterest, we’re seeing early signals that the World Cup 2026 is shaping up to be as much a style moment as a sporting one,” says Pinterest fashion and luxury lead Sophie Marlow. According to the platform’s March data, searches for “World Cup shirts” were up 840% year-on-year, as were fashion-led queries, such as “shirt with heels outfit” (+81%) “shirt on skirt” (+33%), and “Brazil shirt outfit women” (+302%). “Together, these trends point to a new consumer mindset, where football shirts are being reimagined through a more elevated, style-first lens.”
TikTok is a nominated “preferred platform” for Fifa this edition, which makes sense. Sports fans of all generations expect (if not prefer) supplementary and complementary short-form video around competitive events, alongside live game broadcasts, experts agree.
“It’s not just a ‘nice to have’ anymore,” confirms Annie Corser, senior trends editor for pop culture and media at Stylus. She cites a 2025 survey by Morning Consult highlighting that in the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Mexico,and Brazil, 90% of sports fans consume additional sports content beyond the games themselves. In this era of “sportstainment”, outlets span highlight reels, sports documentaries, BTS content, podcasting, athlete profiles, fantasy sports gaming, fan fests, and more. “This is how fans want brands to show up for this World Cup — especially those without sponsor status, who need to not just participate reactively in World Cup conversation, but be in a position to shape it.”
Momentum in the anticipation and the afterglow matter, too, which is why brands have already shown up. Levi’s has launched international team denim capsules, with fans-focused campaigns that tap into local cues. The staggered rollout began in April, but chimes neatly with the brand’s established role as an official host for six matches (announced in 2022), which will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area Levi’s Stadium. For Mexico’s capsule collection, Levi’s involved Mexico City-born label Tony Delfino in a graphic, street culture-influenced campaign. For the US, the lookbook was shot among an American football ground and locker rooms, with Kids of Immigrants co-founders Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis as models. For England, this was shot as a caff-style skit with talent from London-born vintage specialist 194 Local.
“The Levi’s collections with the Mexico, England, US, and France federations are about celebrating fandom in the lead up to this global sports moment,” says Les Green, Levi’s senior director for collaborations, sports, and music partnerships. “While the product is always key — and we hope to see the collections become coveted collectibles — we want this to be a moment to delight existing fans and introduce the brand to new, forever fans.”
To this point, Kalmbach highlights Asian markets, specifically India and China, for witnessing huge gains in soccer viewership over the last decade. The Chinese Super League has invested deeply in global talent to up the ante. Famously, Hulk, at the time a 29-year-old Brazil international, was signed by Shanghai SIPG manager Sven-Goran Eriksson in a £46 million deal in 2016. Capturing Eastern audiences will be a harder win versus speaking to the wealthier and already well-acquainted markets of the West, but worthwhile.
Historically, World Cup activations were a mainstay for menswear, but recent data points to a seismic shift: soccer is no longer a “blokes-only” game. According to TikTok, 46% of global sports views in the first half of 2025 came from its female users. This stacks up with investments seen over the years. In 2022, Lioness Leah Williamson landed a deal with Gucci, while teammate Alessia Russo followed suit, fronting the SS23 Gucci x Adidas campaign. Similarly, Calvin Klein’s 2023 campaign, Calvins or Nothing, spotlit women from US former pro Alex Morgan to former Japanese midfielder Mana Iwabuchi.
Despite its enormous reach, the World Cup is not easy to navigate. Ticket prices are extortionate this year; the cheapest for a final ticket was more than $4,030, prompting New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, to lobby for affordable, $50 tickets for New Yorkers. This sensitivity around the tournament is exacerbated by economic uncertainty in North America. “As we have seen with the recent Met Gala, common sentiment from social media platforms felt alienated from these shows of wealth, as opposed to what would have been considered an aspirational lens of earlier generations,” explains Kalmbach.
To thrive in this marketplace, players must operate marketing campaigns across several touchpoints, sharpening a broad but watertight message. The unspoken rivalry between Nike (outfitting 16 countries this year) and Adidas (outfitting 22) is exemplary.
So far, Nike’s output has leant on its historically competitive sloganeering. In a pre-launch briefing, press were shown skits with ex-soccer players Zlatan Ibrahimović and Eric Cantona. In each segment, the cult figures lean into their playful personality quirks: Ibrahimović plays up to his self-deification — he famously referred to himself as “God” in past interviews — while Cantona displays the still-spirited feistiness that made him an icon. Both embrace their roles as borderline arrogant hypemen, geeing viewers up with a winner’s mentality. The upcoming talents to feature in Nike’s 12-week campaign, include Kylian Mbappé, Ronaldinho, Francesco Totti, Cristiano Ronaldo, rapper Central Cee, and even Kim Kardashian (who VP of brand marketing Helena Thornton describes as the “ultimate soccer mom”).
Alternatively, Adidas’s Backyard Legends film — starring Timothée Chalamet, Trinity Rodman, Lionel Messi, Bellingham, Bad Bunny, David Beckham, and a cast of street-footballing kids — takes a different tack. “Backyard Legends is a powerful articulation of our mission to disarm negative pressure in sport,” says Willis. “It reminds every athlete of the pure joy and freedom they felt when they played without expectations, echoing our foundational message of ‘You Got This’.”
