World Cup, Caludia Cattai: “Three opening ceremonies united in diversity”

Claudia Cattai is the Ceremonies Unit Director of Balich Wonder Studio, the Milanese excellence that for years has signed the ceremonies of every major sporting event on the planet and the 2026 World Cup could not be an exception. Except that, compared to other occasions, this time everything was multiplied by three: more spectacle, but also more complexity in the passage from Mexico to Canada to the United States. She therefore bounces from Mexico City to Toronto to Los Angeles, where there is the last event, the grandest, a moment before USA-Paraguay: “SoFi is the most beautiful stadium I have ever been to, it offers infinite creative possibilities: an event there makes you have even more fun”, says the grand master of ceremonies.

Doctor Cattai, can you tell us some behind the scenes information a few hours after the start?

“Without giving too many spoilers, I will say that it is a completely different ceremony from all those we have held in the past. We wanted to use a language aligned with the “coolness” of Los Angeles. The ceremony in this city represents the real test event before the Olympics in terms of grandeur. For this reason, there will be scenography that we have never used before. For the first time in FIFA history, the three cups have been themed according to the host countries. We hope that this will become a permanent protocol. From this edition, then, all the cups will be represented participating nations and there will be a time when FIFA will openly celebrate its logo. I don’t want to draw a direct parallel with the Olympic rings, but it will be something similar. If the FIFA brand is often associated only with football or now with controversies, we also want to link it to entertainment.”

What relationship do you have with the celebrities and great artists involved?

“The celebrities are chosen directly by FIFA, which produced the official album and agreed with them, and with us, where they would perform. As far as I know, and I have been doing this job for many years, there has never been such a high number of talent within a sporting event.”

You mean there’s never been such a big event?

“No. Let’s think about the Super Bowl halftime show: there is only one artist who creates an extraordinary show. Here we are talking about an enormous amount of talent spread over three ceremonies”

How do you build a unified story between three countries, three cities and three different cultures?

“We need to start from the highest message and transform it into a spectacle. We were asked to represent the concept “FIFA unites the world”. Our task was to translate it artistically. Over time we have created ceremonies which, from a creative point of view, are real formats: there are repeatable elements that link the three events, large and spectacular in the same way. Even from a political point of view it was important that the three host countries were aligned. At the same time, however, the cultural diversity of each country was guaranteed. The three ceremonies are united in diversity.”

If you had to identify a single symbolic image of your new 2026 World Cup experience, what would it be?

“The nice thing is that to create that image you need three. You have to photograph the three final moments of the three ceremonies and place them next to each other. I can’t give spoilers, but try to read them together as if it were a triptych”

How do you keep the show together for those present at the stadium and on television?

“There are two different narratives. The show is designed with both points of view in mind at the same time. Paradoxically, the audience present at the stadium represents a very small part of our overall audience. There is a 360-degree narrative for those in the stadium and a different one for those watching at home. We design the show so that anyone sitting anywhere in the stadium has the feeling of being in the front row. It is a fundamental principle of our work. At the same time there is a television narrative built on details and agreed with the broadcaster of the world vision. In practice two different scripts are written”.

Did the fresh experience of Milan-Cortina teach you anything that you will take with you to America?

“In Milan we tested the first truly widespread ceremony. We have shown that the world is ready for this model. It is a possible response to the crisis in bidding for major sporting events. Fewer and fewer countries are bidding because organizing the Olympics or World Cup involves enormous costs. This would be the solution. Let’s think about the 2030 World Cup: the opening will be in Uruguay to celebrate the centenary of the first World Cup, while the tournament will take place between Morocco, Spain and Portugal. It is likely that there will be more distributed opening ceremonies and all at the same level of spectacularity. If we stay with this year, no one in the history of major events has ever carried out an operation like this. No one has ever produced six ceremonies in sixty days.

On a personal level, is there a ceremony that you are particularly attached to?

“I have two. The first is the World Cup in Qatar. It taught me that ceremonies are a very powerful tool of soft diplomacy through sport. The second is the Special Olympics. From a human point of view they are something touching. We are talking about athletes who lead a normal life during the year and who, every four years, become absolute protagonists. Seeing them enter together with their parents, who were often also their chaperones, was touching. I still get emotional thinking about it today.”

To close: when they ask you what work you do, how do you respond?

“When I describe our work I always say that we plan everything. We know when the applause will arrive. We know when the audience will get excited. But there is one thing we can never control: the return of the emotion. It is as if the emotion started from us, multiplied throughout the stadium and then returned, amplified by thousands of people. It may seem rhetorical, but it is a physical sensation”.