It goes without saying that society is more powerful when we stand united, and nothing has brought us together over the past few weeks quite like the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.
Setting records already as the first to be jointly hosted by 16 cities throughout the United States, Mexico and Canada, this year’s festivities come with its own set of perks depending on where in the world you’re watching from. Thankfully for New York City, adidas set up shop in Brooklyn to bring the Big Apple a big way to watch the games with an added bonus thanks to its official Home Of Soccer hub.
The activation spans from June 13 to July 19, with special events planned in between like the culture-based Stripes Exchange this past Friday (June 26) that we were delighted to attend.
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The adidas Home Of Soccer Stripes Exchange attracted a who’s who of soccer’s elite, including David Beckham, Paul Pogba, Marcelo Viera, Trinity Rodman, Lily Yohannes and Chloe Kelly to name a few — even basketball star Donovan Mitchell stopped by to show some love to his brothers and sisters in athleticism. In addition to watch parties for Norway v. France, Senegal v. Iraq, Cape Verde v. Saudi Arabia and Uruguay v. Spain, the day was rounded out by a live broadcast by way of a residency with The Lot Radio and the adiCup Tournament that has special teams playing for tickets to attend games plus the coveted adiCup Trophy.
One of the core activations of the Stripes Exchange was hair-braiding spearheaded by Haitian-American hair artist Kayra Theodore. Her niche for constructing culturally-driven creations provided a lane for attendees looking for beading that reflected both team pride and their heritage. It all comes with stride and pride for Kayra, who told us in-between beading, “What I love is that with hair, [culture] can show up in unexpected places. Being here, you would think ‘How do you marry hair and soccer together?’ I think it’s through symbolism.” She broke it down further by adding, “Something that I’ve been sharing with people is that [in braiding] you have three strands to interweave together to make one; when you show up in these spaces coming from different cultures and backgrounds, even when two teams are competing against each other, we all come together as one to celebrate the sport. I think it’s just really telling that the underlying symbolism is all the same in that sense.”
—Kayra Theodore, hair artist
The adidas Home Of Soccer is located at Brooklyn Bridge Park and open to the public with free reservations. Head over to the online portal to get tickets now, view the full schedule of events and also see where you can get in on the action if you live in Atlanta, Houston or Toronto.
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