Fox Sports' World Cup of artists is already causing controversy

The World Cup is fast approaching, and it isn't just about football. FIFA aims to outdo the Super Bowl with its World Cup halftime show, and this year's tournament could set a new bar for creativity in the best World Cup ads.

Even Fox Sports has discovered an interest in art. It's commissioned an illustrator or graphic designer from each competing nation to create a World Cup poster design. Each artist was tasked with capturing their country's culture and iconography, inevitably causing a little controversy on the way.

The Fox Sports Global Artist Series is being posted one artwork a day on social media. Ultimately, the series will comprise designs for all 48 nations attending the 2026 World Cup Finals in Canada, Mexico and the US.

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So far, there have been contributions from the Argentine graphic designer Diego Jimenez, who depicts Lionel Messi and celebrating fans in his piece for the defending champions, and Spanish graphic designer and illustrator Manu Vila, who packs in myriad references to cultural and architectural landmarks, from Gaudí's Sagrada Familia to Manchegan windmills and a pilgrimage shell from the Camino de Santiago.

Gwil, from New Zealand, takes inspiration from travel posters of the 1950s, while the Tunisian illustrator Assala Chouk shows football as a source of connection, bringing people together around a cup of tea, and Érik Guarisco of Brazil uses dry media textures and exaggerated proportions to capture the intensity of the sport.

Here are just a few more of the highlights so far.

The initiative has been applauded for highlighting artists and art styles from around the world. It's also really nice to see process videos for many of the pieces, showing how they were made.

However, the Fox Sports Global Artist Series has also sparked a debate, and it's similar to one that often rears its head in relation to the composition of countries' squads. Should an artist need to have been born in the country they're representing?

The artwork for Saudi Arabia was created by the Russian artist Alexandra Sheremeteva. She considers Saudi Arabia to be her second home, but some people feel that Fox should have chosen a Saudi-born artist, and some are disappointed that the poster design includes a two-humped camel, a species that isn't endemic to Saudi Arabia.

“Shame on you for choosing a Russian artist to draw a picture full of mistakes to represent a country they know nothing about,” one person wrote on Instagram.

“What kind of camel is that? It doesn’t exist in my country. And why is English used instead of Arabic? There are well-known cultural symbols, yet they were used in a cultural artwork without proper understanding. Cultural elements are different from social ones,” someone else wrote.

But others have defended the choice. “Why are people angry that a foreigner drew this? If anything, it shows how much this country is being admired in a global level,” one person writes.

What do you think? And which of the World Cup poster designs do you like the most so far?

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