Today the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicks off, and one of the best ways to celebrate it is through the work of Ezgi Arslan. A Turkish freelance illustrator and art director, with collaborations spanning FIFA, FIBA, and the Los Angeles Times, Arslan has developed a series of illustrations that transform football into collective visual storytelling for this World Cup.
Her approach doesn’t focus solely on athletic gesture or individual heroism. The scenes she builds are choral, dense, and inhabited: a living room full of friends wearing Messi, Raphinha, and Pedri shirts watching the match on the sofa; a sports bar lined with framed jerseys and flags where cheering blends with conversation; an outdoor evening with a big screen, folding chairs, pizza on the grass, and a Haaland shirt in the foreground. Alongside these, portraits of champions — like Mbappé in the French national kit — built with graphic compositions rich in visual references and a vintage poster aesthetic reinterpreted through a contemporary lens.
Arslan’s work is grounded in strong composition, clarity, and bold colour. Her images are designed to be visually direct while remaining dense with detail: each frame tells multiple stories at once, leaving space for the viewer to find their own. Football seen not from the stadium, but from inside the lives of those who love it.
