Art institutions across the United States are launching exhibitions and programs that explore the intersection of sports and art, timed to coincide with the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In New York, the Guggenheim Museum will livestream World Cup matches and present Zidane, a 21st century portrait, a video work featuring French soccer star Zinédine Zidane. In Texas, museums in Dallas, Denton, Arlington, and Fort Worth are staging exhibitions such as More Than a Match at the Arlington Museum of Art, Game Changer: United By Sports at the George W. Bush Presidential Museum, and Soccer: More Than A Game at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science. The Pérez Art Museum Miami opened Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, and in Mexico, curator Guillermo Santamarina is organizing Fútbol y Arte with 100 works by 60 artists at an unnamed museum.
This wave of programming matters because it signals a growing institutional embrace of sports as a legitimate subject for artistic and curatorial inquiry, bridging two cultural spheres that have historically been treated as separate. By aligning with a global event like the World Cup, museums are also seeking to attract diverse, international audiences and reaffirm their role as civic gathering spaces. The collaborations—ranging from museum exhibitions to public sculpture and community installations—demonstrate how art institutions can engage with popular culture to foster dialogue about history, identity, and community.