The FIFA World Cup Trophy made a high-profile arrival in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the Final Draw for the 2026 tournament, offering fans and media a rare up-close viewing at some of the city’s most iconic locations before the main showpiece event at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The trophy’s showcase culminated at the Kennedy Center, where FIFA Legend Rio Ferdinand and FIFA representatives offered select media outlets a first look inside the draw hall ahead of the 48-team Final Draw scheduled for Friday, 5 December. Ferdinand — who will co-conduct the draw alongside broadcaster Samantha Johnson — expressed pride at participating in an event that will set the global stage for the first World Cup to feature 48 teams and three host nations: the United States, Canada and Mexico.
This Final Draw is notable for its crossover of global sports icons. Alongside football legends will be household names from other sports — Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky, Aaron Judge and Shaquille O’Neal — who will act as draw assistants. Former NFL quarterback Eli Manning will host the red-carpet arrivals, reinforcing the event’s broad appeal beyond the usual football audience. The presence of such figures emphasises FIFA’s strategy to position the 2026 World Cup as a multifaceted cultural and sporting spectacle in North America.
The Kennedy Center campus offered an atmospheric backdrop for the trophy’s exhibition, and promotional video packages paired Rio Ferdinand’s reflections with high-quality b-roll of the trophy against Washington landmarks. The publicity build-up aims to generate global anticipation for a draw that determines group matchups and tournament pathways — a process that has become, in its own right, a major entertainment event with millions tuning in across the world.
Beyond ceremony, the visit underscores the symbolic heft of the trophy itself. For players, coaches and nations, the draw sets the roadmap to sporting glory. For fans, it is a moment of optimism and speculation, imagining potential group-stage pairings and blockbuster clashes months ahead of kickoff. And for host cities, the Final Draw is part of a larger legacy narrative: staging events that are at once local spectacles and global broadcasts.
As the trophy departs for the Kennedy Center stage, attention now shifts to Friday’s live show. The event promises both the procedural business of drawing teams and the theatrical production values that FIFA has layered onto the occasion. The presence of cross-sport celebrities, the high-profile draw conductors and the ceremonial trophy itself ensures the Final Draw will be both a sporting instrument and a carefully choreographed media moment.
For football fans and neutral observers alike, the arrival in Washington was a reminder that 2026 promises to be the largest World Cup in history, expansive in scale, star-powered in presentation and rich in global expectation.