Why FIFA and YouTube are betting on creators in this world cup

On Sunday afternoon, the biggest star at the FIFA soccer event was not a professional soccer player.

Hours before kickoff at Wollman Rink in Central Park, New York, kids gathered outside the gates hoping to catch a glimpse of IShowSpeed. Others carried soccer balls and Sharpies in case they got lucky. Others are willing to watch without a phone as YouTube and FIFA have started the Creator Cup taking place in a temporary space built on top of the rink.

For the next 90 minutes, the crowd watched as some of the internet’s biggest personalities swapped live streams for soccer matches under the hot afternoon sun. Speed ​​was one victorious captain wearing his number 7 jersey – a nod to his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo – while soccer creator Céline Dept led the other with his custom “Celnado” kit.

Brazil’s Allan Stag is very happy with the quick work, while B Lou and Zias are always alert between the posts. Marlon, JasonTheWeen, Zhong, Coringa, and other creators put together an international lineup that looked more like a YouTube homepage than a regular soccer program. But this was still a FIFA event: Pierluigi Collina, the federation’s chief referee, was in charge of the match.

As FIFA works to reach a new generation of fans, creators are increasingly becoming the gateway to the sport. Initiatives such as the Creators Cup recognize that some of the biggest football ambassadors are now building their audiences on YouTube. In total, the creators who were invited to play in this competition reached more than 350 million subscribers on the platform.

That strategy has been years in the making. During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, YouTube worked with creators on the ground and saw how they could bring fans closer to the tournament outside of the games themselves. Four years later, that collaboration has expanded far beyond what the creators realized. This World Cup, YouTube has partnered with FIFA to expand the way fans enjoy the tournament, from live streaming and creative activation to taking over the southeast corner of Central Park to experience the best of the creative game.

The audience followed. According to YouTube, videos from its World Cup creators have already generated more than one billion views during the 2026 tournament, with the likes of IShowSpeed ​​​​​​​​​​​drawing tens of millions of viewers to stream live.

Rather than replacing traditional streaming, Angela Courtin, YouTube’s global head of product marketing, said creators are offering fans a unique approach to the game — one built on personality, community, and online conversations that happen long before and after the game.

“Broadcasters play an amazing role in delivering the game [to the people],” Courtin told Mashable. “Creators just bring a different flavor. They chat with their followers every day. The gameplay we’ve had on YouTube for the past 10 years, from clips and highlights to creators and fans, is really what we’ve come to depend on. We want to make the fans happy.”

Among the creatives who entered the show was fashion designer Wisdom Kaye, who fronted the Céline Dept team. He said brands and organizations are now realizing that creators understand how to capture attention in ways that traditional marketing often can’t.

“Creators understand a certain recipe that engages people, grabs attention, engages an audience,” Kaye told Mashable. “Companies spend millions of dollars every year trying to figure that out, but you have people with their phones that did it in a few months. There are certain things you can’t replicate when you’re a big business.”

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That attention has real monetary value. According to an analysis cited by Business Insider, World Cup campaigns led by promoters generated an estimated $4 billion in earned value on social media.

It’s the kind of reach that organizations like FIFA are trying to use. Romy Gai, FIFA’s chief business officer, described the partnership with YouTube as a new way to broadcast the World Cup, designed to work with traditional broadcasters while reaching fans wherever they already consume sports. As part of that effort, participating broadcasters can stream the first 10 minutes of each game on YouTube.

Creators understand a certain recipe that engages people, grabs attention, and engages an audience.

“This is a new channel we’ve built in partnership with our existing broadcasters,” Gai told Mashable, describing it as a three-way partnership between FIFA, broadcasters and YouTube. “Understanding the need to tap into a new generation, we have found the best way to deliver the right content to the right audience at the right time.”

As Kaye sees it, that can only happen when organizations trust creators to speak to audiences in their own voice: “You need to work with people who are human and who really understand these things.”

For a creator like IShowSpeed ​​​​​​​​, who has more than 57 million YouTube subscribers, the event showed how far the industry has come.

“This is crazy,” he told Mashable before the game. “It just shows that the creator industry is developing and the big companies are starting to see that. That’s why we’re here now. We have the FIFA YouTube Creator Cup, and I’m happy to be a part of that.”

Zhong, who works for YouTube’s 76 million subscribers, echoed that sentiment, saying opportunities like the Creators Cup would have been hard to imagine just a few years ago. “I’m very happy with where we’re headed for the creators,” he said.

Streamer Marlon pointed to changing media habits among younger viewers, saying that platforms like YouTube and TikTok are now where many fans spend their time, making creator partnerships feel like a natural transition. “I definitely think that’s the place to put things now instead [traditional] TV,” he said.

For creators from outside the US, the event also has a different significance. Brazilian creator Allan Stag called representing his country’s creative community in New York’s Central Park “next level.”

“Representing the Brazilian creative industry, especially in Central Park – it’s crazy that they closed it,” he said.

His friend and rival on the field, Victor Augusto, who travels with Coringa, shared the same thought. “Not only in the creative economy, but also for us as Brazilians, it’s crazy to be here in New York representing Brazilian creators,” he said.

JasonTheWeen, known for his IRL broadcasts, pointed to the World Cup itself as another reason for the event. “Football is growing in the States, especially as the World Cup continues,” he said. “To be able to participate in something like this is a milestone.”

For Gai, creators like Speed ​​​​​​are more than just influencers who promote the sport – they help shape the way a new generation experiences it.

“His love is true. His vision is so unique that it adds a little magic on top of our normal magic,” Gai said. “It’s a win-win combination.”

As the game wound down, the crowd outside Wollman Rink had not thinned out. If anything, it had grown. Youth lined the trails as children, along with many curious parents, walked up the hill towards the rink.

Gai believes that is ultimately what makes football unique. Everyone should feel that the ball is yours. With a growing number of followers, creators make that invitation feel more personal.