An unnecessarily serious review of the best ads around the 2026 World Cup, including campaigns by Adidas, Nike and Burberry, as picked by amateur footballer and professional creative Harriet Russell-Vick.

Football ads in 2026 finally remembered a crucial detail: football is supposed to be fun. After years of ultra-serious slow-motion shots of rain hitting crossbars while somebody whispers about “legacy,” brands loosened up this year.

There were laughs. Weird ideas. Actual joy. And, thankfully, fewer ads featuring a child staring dramatically at a floodlit pitch like they’re about to solve climate change. 

Here are the football campaigns that genuinely stood out to me. 

1. Adidas: ‘Backyard Legends’

The big winner this year was clearly Adidas, which finally stopped trying to make football look inspirational and started making it look accurate.

And they went for it this year with Backyard Legends, featuring Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, Trinity Rodman, Lionel Messi, David Beckham and, for reasons nobody’s fully explained, Timothee Chalamet. Somehow, it worked.

The whole thing felt like the football version of your coolest mate’s childhood memories: impossible skills, tiny cages, ridiculous confidence and one kid who definitely claims he once nutmegged a semi-pro.

The visual style sat somewhere between 90s Nike chaos and a Netflix sports documentary with a £50m budget. The best part? It actually made football feel playful again.

My Verdict: Big, stylish, slightly ridiculous but completely aware of it.

2. Burberry: ‘A Good Sport’

Burberry’s A Good Sport campaign feels like football culture got dressed for dinner at a country estate. It’s got a brilliant mix of luxury, humour and British chaos where everyone looks impossibly expensive but also like they might start arguing over five-a-side rules at any second.

What Burberry nailed is making football less about the match itself and more about the culture orbiting around it: the personalities, the families, the mates, the energy, the slightly awkward Britishness of it all.

The casting is perfect too. Lucy Punch? Immediate win. I will watch that woman in absolutely anything after Motherland. Every time she appears it feels like someone’s about to passive-aggressively mention school WhatsApp groups or an Ocado delivery slot.

Visually? Ridiculous. Every frame looks like a fashion editorial collided with football pub culture in the rain. Trenches, scarves, muddy pitches, oversized tailoring, all shot like England just won the World Cup and immediately went for a roast dinner.

The whole thing walks a perfect line between self-aware and aspirational. It knows football culture can be hilarious, emotional and slightly feral… but instead of mocking it, it celebrates it.

My Verdict: Very British. Very stylish. Very “someone’s nan is wearing Burberry while screaming at the referee”.

3. Axe: ‘Smell Your Best, When You Look Your Best‘

Axe – the brand name of Lynx in most of the rest of the world – made some of the most entertaining football ads of the year by remembering one simple truth: fans are completely unhinged. In the best way possible.

Instead of trying to make the World Cup feel deep and cinematic, Axe leaned into the chaos of fandom: giant trophy costumes, obsessive supporters, ridiculous matchday rituals and the kind of confidence only football can produce.

The whole campaign revolved around one brilliant notion: fans might look absolutely awful during tournaments… but they still want to smell incredible.

The standout pieces like ‘Airplane’ (below) felt low-fi, weirdly stylish and genuinely funny. There’s no polished influencer energy or over-produced emotional monologue, just pure football madness shot with enough craft to make it feel cinematic without taking itself too seriously.

My Verdict: Less destiny. More personality. 

4. Nike x Palace

Nike x Palace’s World Cup spot feels like England collectively had three pints, found a camera and decided “yeah… we’re definitely winning it this year.”

It’s absolute chaos in the best way possible: lads in pubs, random uncles, street corner philosophers, football delusion at world-class levels, and enough swagger to power the entire country for a month.

It leans into the beautiful madness of English football culture instead of trying to make it look polished and cool. It’s sweaty, loud, emotional, slightly unhinged and somehow incredibly stylish at the same time. Every frame feels like someone shouted “OI, GET IN HERE!” right before filming.

Palace brings that perfect mix of fashion, humour and cultural chaos, while Nike gives it the cinematic weight of a nation emotionally preparing itself for heartbreak again.

It’s basically a two-minute montage of England saying: “We’re either bringing it home… or dramatically spiraling in a beer garden by the quarter finals.” And honestly? That’s the magic of it.

My Verdict: Pure football fever. Pure England. Pure chaos.

5. Lay’s: ‘Bandwagon’ 

The Lay’s Bandwagon ad feels like someone finally admitted football fandom is basically just organised delusion with snacks.

Will Ferrell bouncing between countries pretending to support whoever’s winning is painfully accurate football behaviour. One good tournament run and suddenly people are talking about “we” like they’ve lived in Argentina their whole life.

And then Beckham turns up… naturally. The whole thing is ridiculous, self-aware and intentionally over-the-top. It knows football fans are dramatic, flaky and deeply unserious… especially when there’s free food involved.

It’s less “beautiful game” and more “who are we supporting today then?”.

My Verdict: A fun reminder that football loyalty becomes incredibly flexible during major tournaments.

6. Brahma

Brahma’s World Cup campaign feels like Brazil walked into the tournament late and said: “Sorry… were you lot talking about football without us?”

This ad has ridiculous levels of swagger. Street football. Beach football. Kids trying overhead kicks for absolutely no reason. Random uncles debating tactics. It’s pure Brazilian football chaos.

It understands Brazil isn’t just a football team, it’s a football mood. The whole campaign feels sweaty, loud, stylish and dangerously confident. Every frame has energy.

Nobody’s standing in tunnels staring emotionally into the middle distance while piano music plays – phew. Instead, it’s all rhythm and movement as Carlo Ancelotti somehow looks like he’s calmly controlling the weather. 

You finish fully convinced Brazil is about to win the World Cup… again. 

My Verdict: An ad that makes you want to nutmeg someone immediately.

Final Whistle 

The best 2026 World Cup ads stopped trying to “save football” and just celebrated why people love it in the first place. The noise. The nonsense. The group chats. The pub debates. The guy wearing a full kit to watch a match in his own living room: In other words: football looked human again.

That’s the real game. Not the Champions League final, but a five-a-side under flickering floodlights while your mate claims he “nearly signed for Reading”.