FIFA The Best

2024FIFA3D Design / Art Direction

The Best recognises the people and achievements that shape football. Working with Velvet in Munich, I contributed 3D Design and Art Direction to its award-show graphics. The 2024 edition brings the trophies and title into a shared architectural world, with dedicated compositions for landscape, portrait and ultrawide LED screens.

My contribution: 3D Design and Art Direction, in collaboration with Velvet, Munich.

2024 — A stage for recognition

An award reveal needs to direct attention before it adds detail. A bright platform and an open centre give the trophy’s silhouette priority; sculptural blocks and metallic surfaces establish a larger ceremonial setting around it. The architecture provides scale and anticipation while leaving the individual honour clear.

The title occupies the same space. Extruded letterforms give The Best a physical presence alongside the trophies: the identity and the objects share a material language, a stage and a sense of scale.

Different honours, one visual world

The award categories have distinct silhouettes. The slender Fair Play sculpture rises above the platform; the Marta Award uses a horizontal frame and a warm pink accent. Keeping the surroundings consistent lets these differences carry the category's character without introducing a separate visual identity each time.

For the event itself, 2024 marked the introduction of the Marta Award, recognising outstanding goals in women's football. Its coloured frame creates a particularly clear accent within the otherwise restrained metallic palette.

Recognition in a vertical frame

Changing to portrait means rebuilding the hierarchy for a taller canvas. The platform and surrounding architecture can extend vertically while the trophy remains the focal point. Recurring materials and geometry preserve recognition across landscape reveals and social formats without relying on a simple crop.

Beyond the individual award

Between individual award moments, the wider stage still needs a coherent identity. The ultrawide screensaver carries the architectural material language across the LED canvas, giving the environment a presence without requiring another trophy reveal.

Treating the LED format as its own composition connects the scale of the stage with the closer award sequences. The same surfaces and graphic forms can hold the room while the focal point shifts between screen, presenter and recipient.

Credits

Client

FIFA

3D Design · Art Direction

Matthias Lein

Agency

Velvet Mediendesign