"This is one of the best places in the world to play soccer" - SDH 1v1, Jose Hadathy

The Official FIFA World Cup 26™ Atlanta Host City Poster was released recently and Madison Crews and I had a chance to speak with the artist last week about his incredible work in representing the city. Jose Hadathy, the Creative Design Manager at Atlanta United, created the artwork and we talked about the process and how he wanted to represent the city. Here's selected parts of our conversation, please check out the entire conversation as a podcast or in the video below:

Madison: "What was your initial reaction when you got told by the committee that you were going to be creating it?"

Jose: "Disbelief. I you know, when I started working here in United that was kind of like my dream job scenario. I never thought that it could lead to something like that to be literally a part of history, a part of World Cup history, a part of the history of the city. I know to some a poster might not seem like that big of a deal. But for me, just given my story, my life, my experiences. It just seemed like something that would never be possible. So I was super excited, for sure

Jason: "Knowing the city so well, has it hit you being involved in this process. Like, we're months away, it's a little over a year away from having World Cup games in the stadium that we're in all the time." Jose: "Yeah, it's wild, I think, working in the stadium every day you sort of maybe start to take it for granted. You know the building that you're in, and you get so used to just walking on the field and being surrounded by this incredible building.

But I know when I bring my family from Ecuador, and they visit, and they come to the Stadium for the 1st time. And you know, seeing the reaction and just people who've never been here before. You kind of start realizing no like. This is one of the best places in the world to play soccer, and so to have this tournament that I you know my whole life. It's been one of the main focuses in Ecuador is getting to the World Cup, making it to the World cup. How far can we get so just having that be such a big part of your life? Now, kind of mixing in with your city and being at your doorstep is crazy, so I can't believe it's, you know, almost a year away."

Madison: "How excited are you that Atlanta is going to be the hub, you're going to get people from all over the place? What's it going to be like to have all of them in one city and just be able to celebrate the beautiful game?"

Jose: "I think it'll be cool. It'll be sort of a reflection of what the city already is, but in sort of like a much more visual way. I think we all know how diverse the city is, but once you see all the different Jerseys and the flags, and all the face paint and getting to see these people sharing this giant party.

And you know that like in their day to day, there's so many differences, and people have so many problems in their life or whatever. But for this one moment, for these games, for this month people can put that aside and really come together and support each other's teams. And you know, as the tournament goes on and sort of countries get eliminated, you start to rally around other countries, and at least that's what I do. I always try to cheer for, like Latin America or these kind of countries that you feel sort of culturally connected with beyond your borders.

And I think that that's something beautiful about the tournament. So if anyone hasn't experienced that in person like it's just going to blow them away how truly passionate fans are for this tournament."

Check out the whole conversation below: