FIFA World Cup 2026 — Ceremony Work
Ceremony work on the Los Angeles opening and the U.S. closing of the tournament.
The FIFA World Cup 2026 ran from 11 June to 19 July 2026 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico — the first 48-team edition, played through 16 host cities.
The scope here was two ceremonies: the opening ceremony in Los Angeles, where SoFi Stadium staged the U.S. team's tournament opener, and the closing ceremony at New York New Jersey Stadium ahead of the final — a programme that also carried the first halftime show ever staged at a World Cup final, an eleven-minute production inserted into the interval of the most-watched match in sport.
Staging ceremony work inside a live tournament is a different discipline from a festival build. The field must return to match condition on a fixed clock, broadcast holds the timeline, and everything installed has to move on and off faster than it would anywhere else.
The work was creative production within the production-design scope for the Los Angeles opening and U.S. closing ceremonies. Balich Wonder Studio produced the ceremonies.