by Stefano Scibilia
WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) (ITALPRESS) – On the morning of December 5, the American capital woke up wrapped in snow: less than three sharp degrees, an air so pungent to look like a thin blade on the skin. Yet, close to the Kennedy Center, that cold was not enough to turn off a deeper heat, a collective frantic that crossed delegations, journalists, footballers and curious. It was the prelude of the final draw of the World Cup 2026, the event that officially opens the curtain on the journey that will accompany the United States, Mexico and Canada towards the biggest World Championship ever. Already in front of the entrance, while the delegations flowed on the red carpet as a river of colors, languages and stories, something more than a ceremony was breathing: the beginning of a world journey that would have interwoven continents, memories and ambitions. Inside the Kennedy Center, the World Cup theca dominated the scene as a relics suspended over time, surrounded by an almost mystical aura. That golden trophy seemed to hold the breath of those who had touched it and the memories engraved for decades: the goals yelled at the sky, the tears of those who failed, the falls and resurrections, the glory and wound of those who tried to get to the top.
Every look at the Cup was a return to their football nights, to a summer of games seen with the suspended heart. It was as if it contained not only the history of football, but that of all those who, in football, found a fragment of their lives. To give voice to all this, the president of the Fifa Gianni Infantino. His words, spoken in the first minutes of the ceremony, were not only an introduction: They were a manifesto. He recalled that the 2026 will be “the greatest World ever”: 48 teams, three host countries, a dimension destined to mark an era. Those phrases, said with pride and a restrained emotion, seemed to bounce among the corridors as an omen, while a cold air thread still entered from the doors. On the red carpet, to do the honors of home, there was Eli Manning. The legend of American football, with its friendly smile, offered guests a feeling of familiarity able to cancel distances and formalities. Inside, the Kennedy Center appeared transformed: no more temple of classical music, but a space that vibrated with contemporary energy, between dynamic lights, digital scenes and a buzz in dozens of different languages. On stage, to lead the evening, two symbolic figures of global football: Rio Ferdinand, icon of the British defense and Manchester United, and player Samantha Johnson.
Among the public, to share the event with fans and delegations, there were also great icons of American sport: Tom Brady, football legend; Wayne Gretzky, an eternal symbol of ice hockey; Aaron Judge, baseball star; and Shaquille O’Neal, basketball giant. Their presence has emphasized the link between different sports disciplines and the universal charm of football, able to recall samples of each field to a single global stage. In the front row, the institutions did not go unnoticed: US President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum. Together, they represent the political dimension of a World Championship that will not only be sport, but a symbolic bridge between different peoples and visions. Trump climbed on stage to receive the Fifa’s inaugural peace prize and, next to Carney and Sheinbaum, participated in the ceremonial extraction that marked the official start of the journey towards 2026.
The ceremony opened with the timeless voice of Andrea Bocelli. The notes of “No Sleep”, clear and powerful, crossed the Kennedy Center as an emotional current capable of rewriting the silence of the room. It was a suspended, almost sacred moment: music transformed the drawing into a liturgy, a collective ritual that combined sport and poetry. Then Robbie Williams, with its scenic intensity and fragility that always makes it unique, gave a magnetic performance. And when Nicole Scherzinger reached him on stage, the room had the feeling of attending a rare meeting, an unrepeatable moment in which two voices intertwine creating something greater than the sum of the parts. That of December 5 was not only a cold morning in Washington, but the first concrete step towards the World Championship of 2026. A sensory journey in which the Cup evoked immortal memories, music gave shape to the emotions and words of Infantino opened the doors to a tournament that wants to be monumental. The Kennedy Center has become for a day the heart of the world, a place where institutions, artists, champions and fans have shared the awareness that football, in its deepest essence, is never just a game: is a universal story that continues to write, able to overcome the frost, time and boundaries. This is where the path to the World Cup has officially begun.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
