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BEHIND THE STRIPES

Jose Hadathy

By Atlanta United FC

March 25^th, 2025

When looking for an artist to create the first-ever city-specific poster for the FIFA World Cup in 2026, the Atlanta host committee sought clear qualifications: a talented designer, one with experience making incredible visuals in a variety of forms, a homegrown creator with ties to the city. Passion for soccer a plus.

The committee knew Jose Hadathy was the right person for the job.

Jose is the manager of creative design at Atlanta United, and he’s the designer behind Atlanta’s beautiful FIFA World Cup 2026 poster, released on March 22. His history of creating eye-catching soccer-specific designs along with his deep knowledge of soccer, art, and the city he calls home made Jose the perfect fit.

“It was like a dream come true to represent the city I love in such a historic way,” he said.

BEHIND THE STRIPES

Jose’s path to a career in the arts runs parallel with his interest in soccer. Born in Quito, Ecuador, his earliest memories were of playing soccer. His mother is a creative person, and his grandfather is Bolívar Mena Franco, a famous artist in Ecuador known for his surrealist depictions of people. Jose's first drawings as a kid were of soccer players and soccer balls, and one of his fondest memories was when Ecuador qualified for the country’s first World Cup in 2002.

“It was just such an incredible moment for me, my family and my friends,” he said. “It's hard to describe to people that aren't from countries where soccer is the main sport how much the tournament means to people. Having it here [in Atlanta] is a dream.”

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

When he was nine years old, Jose immigrated with his mom to Atlanta, Georgia, and he went on to study painting and illustration at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), graduating with a BFA in painting.

Since then, he was able to plug his passion into the Atlanta United community, where he's been a major influence. He was a founding member, following the club during the beginnings at Bobby Dodd Stadium. He was in the stands at the first-ever match at Atlanta United’s home venue, and soon-to-be host of the World Cup, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He joined Footie Mob, one of Atlanta United’s six official supporter groups and even launched a soccer-focused clothing brand named Way Down South. Jose sold the apparel at tailgates before Atlanta United matches, and 10 percent of the sales went directly to Soccer in the Streets, a non-profit organization that empowers the growth of soccer in the city.

“Here in the city of Atlanta, soccer gives people a space where they can put their differences aside, come together and support one sport, one cause,” he said. “The sport really brings people together, and the World Cup is the ultimate symbol and culmination of that. It literally brings the world together in one place, celebrating in excitement and joy. It provides hope that humans are capable of coming together.”

"The World Cup provides hope that humans are capable of coming together.”

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

His business resonated with many ATLiens and brought Jose into an official role at the club. In April 2022, he joined the full-time staff at Atlanta United as a graphic designer. During his time at the club, he’s worked on a variety of creative projects, including a retail line to celebrate Latin culture, the Somos Atlanta collection.

For Jose, getting the chance to work at Atlanta United and create art that expresses his culture was a dream come true. He saw the opportunity to design a poster specific to the World Cup as a payoff for a lot of hard work and sacrifice, for not just him but his family as well.

“To get the opportunity to make a poster that will be in history as part of the biggest sporting event of all time goes beyond anything that I could have ever imagined was possible and validates to all the hard work that has gone into getting to this point in my life,” he said.

"Whether they’re coming for the tournament or interested in coming to visit at some point, this poster gives them a glimpse into what Atlanta is all about.”

The assignment was wide open. The only guidelines FIFA gave Jose was to show the city of Atlanta through his own lens and create excitement for the tournament. Atlanta will host eight World Cup matches, including one of the semifinal matches, at the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As a longtime soccer fan and resident of Atlanta, the idea of universality drove Jose’s process, which developed from an initial pencil sketch on paper to copious layers in a working image file on a tablet.

“My goal was no matter where you're from in Atlanta, you can find something that you relate to or that you can connect with,” he said.

The whole image is flushed against a gorgeous blue sky, which came from the original inspiration. The color palette that FIFA provided contained a lot of blues and greens, which reminded Jose of a landscape painting. The canopy of trees that surrounds the houses and buildings forms an oculus, the shape of the retractable roof that makes Mercedes-Benz Stadium unique, and pays homage to Atlanta’s nickname as the “City in a Forest.”

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

All around the poster are peaches, which is what the state of Georgia is known for. At the top, a metallic soccer ball is the pit of a peach, sliced open, symbolizing the permanence of soccer culture here in the Peach State.

“The large peach stands for the fact that in 2026 we're going to be opening up our city and our state to receive the world, so that's why there's a gold globe coming out of it instead of the seed that would be in the middle,” Jose explained. “It’s also a soccer ball because Georgia has deep ties to soccer from the Atlanta Chiefs, the Ruckus, the Beat, Atlanta United, Silverbacks and so on.”

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

Atlanta’s role as a global transportation hub is featured throughout the design. An airplane in the sky refers to Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the destination thousands from around the world will be flying into next summer to watch soccer. MARTA, the city’s public transportation network, runs right across the canvas. Instead of dropping the logo into the corner of the poster, Jose got creative, and integrated the copy into signage along the line, like one might see at a station at Lindberg Center or Summer Hill.

And those are just a few of the classic Atlanta establishments on the poster. Jose’s thoughtfulness is evident as more city icons show up throughout the poster. The artist even added his own flair with a few “easter eggs,” all of which you can spot if you look closely:

Clark Atlanta University, which symbolizes the importance that HBCUs play in the city.
A home in the West End with solar panels on the roof, which show the importance of sustainability and ties back into Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the first stadium in the world to be awarded Total Resource Use and Efficiency (TRUE) Platinum certification for its zero waste efforts.
Skyview Atlanta, the Ferris wheel that reaches 20 stories high to provide incredible views from downtown in Centennial Park.
Art at Krog Street Tunnel, showing how art is accepted and celebrated in Atlanta. One graffiti shows a UFO abducting a soccer ball, a reference to the nickname of Atlanta residents as “ATLiens.”
Rainbow-painted crosswalks to celebrate Atlanta’s vibrant and inclusive LGBTQ+ community and show the city as a walkable, active and public space.
The home of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on Auburn Avenue.
A five-stripe flag alternating black and red, the symbol of Atlanta United.
A Station Soccer field at the MARTA station, a project between Soccer in the Streets and the Atlanta United Community Fund, which highlights the pockets of soccer throughout the city.

BEHIND THE STRIPES

BEHIND THE STRIPES

Featured at the heart of the poster are passionate soccer fans, wearing the colors of the host city in what are meant to look like soccer jerseys. This expresses Jose’s belief in the World Cup as a moment that brings the world together.

“The World Cup, throughout my life, has always meant a coming together,” Jose said. “For people in Ecuador, it's one of the things that we can all rally around and come together as a nation. Whenever a World Cup qualifier match comes to the country, you see a sea of yellow jerseys everywhere you go. It's something that gives you a rest from the day-to-day differences that you might have.”

The FIFA World Cup in 2026 will make history as the first time three nations – the United States, Canada and Mexico – host the tournament. This project also makes history as the first time each host city will release a city-specific poster to commemorate the event.

"Having the chance to work in this industry is a dream come true. The fact that I can be part of history is something I'll never take for granted, especially being from Ecuador and being an immigrant here and following my passion. It's validating and a huge honor.”

Atlanta was the third city, out of 16, to release their poster, following Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The Atlanta poster will go sale on April 19, an image that is bound to create excitement for 2026 and serve as a time capsule for this rare and special moment in Atlanta soccer and sports history.

“I hope it communicates the excitement that I feel, and I think we all feel, for the tournament,” Jose said. “That's something that I wanted to have expressed, not just through the fans cheering, but through the colors, through the whimsy that you feel when you look at it, the surrealist elements, all of it. I wanted to communicate excitement, and also intrigue for Atlanta, and a desire to come and visit Atlanta, to see that there's a lot of history, diversity, and artistic acceptance.”

BEHIND THE STRIPES

Footnotes

Story by Sandy McAfee / Photos by Taylor McLaughlin

FootNotes

Story by Sandy McAfee / Photos by Taylor McLaughlin

© 2026 Atlanta United FC

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