We Been Playing

A FIFA 2026 World Cup campaign positioning soccer as the game Black communities already own

Brief

Get Black communities in Seattle

Who have been excluded from mainstream soccer culture

To see themselves as part of the 2026 World Cup story

By reframing soccer not as something new, but as something they've always played

Role: Campaign Concept & Strategy
Client: FIFA 2026 World Cup (Spec Work)

Challenge: Position the World Cup as a celebration of communities already playing, not an introduction to the sport.

Insight

When people picture American soccer, they don't picture us. But the footwork? The creativity? The improvisation under pressure? That's been ours.

Soccer in America got coded as suburban. European. Something you sign your kids up for, not something you grew up doing.

But the stepover? That's a hesitation move. The nutmeg? That's playground rules. The celebration? That's church and cookout and Saturday morning all in one.

Truth: The 2026 World Cup isn't bringing soccer to Black Seattle. It's just finally pointing a camera at what's already here.

The Creative Platform

The game isn't new to us. The invitation is.

This campaign doesn't introduce soccer to Black communities—it acknowledges the game they've been playing all along. It positions the 2026 World Cup not as an arrival moment, but as a recognition moment.

Three pillars guide the work:

Heritage: Documenting the players, coaches, and community fields that built Seattle soccer before anyone was watching.

Joy: Soccer isn't something we need to learn. It's something we recognize. The game meeting us where we already are.

Future: Visible pathways from community fields to academy tryouts to professional contracts. Not talent searches, but talent recognition.

Three strategic pillars transforming World Cup messaging from introduction to recognition—honoring what already exists.

The Hero Spot

"We Been Playing" - :90 Anthem Film

Format: Documentary warmth meets spoken word energy

Visual Style: Mixed format—Super 8 footage, iPhone vertical video, 4K cinematic

The film opens with a truth: "They say soccer's coming to America. Like we haven't been here."

Black screen. Sound of a ball bouncing on concrete. Cut to feet on pavement, kids playing in a park. Archive footage from the 90s, then match cut to the same field today.

The middle builds the case through cultural connection: "The crossover. The fake-out. The 'watch this.' You think that started on a pitch? Nah. That started here."

Quick cuts between a dancer hitting a move and a player hitting a stepover. Hands clapping in church and after a goal. DeAndre Yedlin highlights intercut with footage of him as a kid in Seattle's Central District.

The closing is a statement: "2026, the world's gonna watch. Let 'em."

Golden hour light on a RAVE Foundation field. A little girl, maybe 7, ball at her feet, looks up confident. She flicks the ball up, juggles once, walks off frame.

SUPER: We been playing.

Content strategy moving audiences from awareness to participation to ownership—building community, not just viewership.

Voice in Action

The campaign comes to life across every touchpoint—from social platforms to out-of-home, from UGC activation to Field Festival promotion. Here's how the voice scaled:

Campaign launch establishing the core truth—soccer isn't new to Black communities, the invitation to the table is.
#WeBeenPlaying Challenge inviting fans to show moves that started off the pitch—turning followers into contributors.
Field opening repositioned as block party, not ribbon cutting—community celebration becoming phase two content source.
Platform-native UGC showing cultural connection between dance, movement, and soccer—proving the thesis in real time.
Out-of-home executions bringing campaign voice to Seattle streets—bold, simple, unapologetic community ownership.
:30 hero spot distilled for digital—opening with confrontation, closing with confidence: "Let 'em watch."

Local Hero DeAndre Yedlin:
From the Central District to the World Cup

DeAndre isn't our spokesperson.

He's our receipts.

His journey traces the pathway: Central District neighborhood fields → Sounders Academy → Premier League → World Cup.

His story isn't the exception. It's the proof. Proof that the pathway exists when someone builds it. Proof that Black Seattle has always produced this talent when someone looks for it.

The campaign uses DeAndre not as a celebrity endorser, but as evidence. His story becomes the city's story and the blueprint for what's possible when communities get resourced instead of overlooked.

Professional player representing the pathway from community fields to world stage.
Partnership with RAVE Foundation ensures infrastructure outlasts the event—the World Cup leaves, the fields stay forever.

Scalability

Seattle Is the Proof of Concept. The Framework Travels.

Every World Cup host city has its own version of this story: Black communities with deep roots in movement, rhythm, and play that have been overlooked by mainstream soccer culture.

The playbook adapts to each city's cultural truth. Find the local hero. Partner with the people already building. Let local artists translate the campaign into authentic expression. The tagline stays. Everything else adapts.

From Seattle to Houston to Atlanta to LA—the same framework, different voices.

Success measured not just in impressions, but in community presence, scouting shifts, and decision-making power gained.

Why it Works

  • Reframes the World Cup from spectacle to recognition—honoring communities instead of introducing them to something "new"

  • Positions soccer through cultural fluency, not European tradition—the stepover is a hesitation move, the celebration is church

  • Creates permanent infrastructure that outlasts the event—26 fields that stay in communities forever

  • Builds a scalable model for every host city with similar stories waiting to be told

  • Shifts power dynamics by resourcing existing grassroots networks instead of building new top-down systems