FIFA x adidas

Launching the World Cup ball

Official Match Ball launch event

Where do you launch a ball like no other? In a location like no other. Where desert meets sea. Al Rihla means "the journey" in Arabic. It was the most technologically advanced ball in World Cup history, designed with elements of Qatari culture and architecture. We launched it outside Doha on a custom built pitch where the desert runs straight into the sea. A venue we designed and built specifically for this moment. Grassroots players and global legends on the same pitch. The ball seen around the world.

An aerial view of a beach with a temporary setup for an event, featuring a small soccer field, tents, umbrellas, banners, and chairs near the shoreline with calm waves.
“A glittering show.”
— Gulf News

Client
adidas Middle East, Global + FIFA

Market
Doha, Qatar to the world

Scope
Event concept, venue design and build, production, talent programming, content, hospitality

A soccer ball with colorful patterns is on a blue surface outdoors, with sailboats and a cloudy sky in the background.
A soccer match showing a goalkeeper in blue uniform performing a bicycle kick during the game on a green field with a crowd watching on, under a clear blue sky.
A young woman in a black Adidas sports outfit stands on a sandy beach, holding a colorful volleyball under her arm, with the ocean and a small boat in the background.
A man with curly hair and a beard, wearing a red sports jacket, smiling while balancing a soccer ball in the air outdoors against a clear blue sky.
Group of athletes on a football field playing a casual game, with audience members watching in the background.
Two men sitting on a striped couch, one signing a black case, possibly a briefcase or equipment case, while the other man observes.

Launch the Official Match Ball of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar in a way that felt worthy of the moment, connecting the ball's design roots in Qatari culture to a physical experience that the world would pay attention to.

BRIEF

The ball's name told us where to go. Al Rihla: the journey. We built a custom venue on the coastline outside Doha, where desert sand meets the Arabian Gulf. Not a press conference. Not a stadium activation. A proper football experience ft. grassroots players alongside global talent, Arabian hospitality at the highest level, a match played on a pitch that didn't exist until we built it. Local and legendary in the same frame.

INSIGHTS & APPROACH

Global press coverage across sport and general interest media. The ball seen around the world before a single World Cup match was played. A launch moment that connected adidas and FIFA's most important product of the year to the culture and landscape of the host nation in a way that felt genuinely earned.

EXECUTION & IMPACT

What it really took to pull it off.