Children's pictures on the team bus: how the World Cup stars travel to the stadium
The team buses at the World Cup are advertising spaces on wheels. In addition to brand logos and national flags, they offer space for a great idea: children's drawings will adorn the windows at the 2026 World Cup.
The stars will be sitting behind tinted windows. Nevertheless, the team buses of the 48 participating nations at the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico will attract everyone's attention: as they head towards the stadium with a police escort, cameras will be on them and crowds of people will form at the roadside. Onlookers will discover the most beautiful element on the side windows: children's drawings submitted by young fans from the respective countries to a competition.
Source: Hyundai
Under the motto «What do the players see out of the bus window on their way to glory?», five to twelve-year-olds have been allowed to upload pictures since December 2025 - but they could only hope as long as their nation was still in the running to take part in the tournament. Doubly sad for Italian (and other) children who took part but didn't stand a chance when their countries were eliminated.
Allez Suisse & Get the pot
Luckily, children have enough imagination not to take the question of what the players see when they look out of the bus window too seriously. Instead of multi-lane American highways, the winning pictures show colourful scenes typical of the country. I have asked Hyundai for the Swiss picture in all its splendour and will include it as soon as I receive it. For now, this excerpt from the collage in the title, which the company published with the press release, will do.
Source: Hyundai
The national team will be back on 1 August, with the final taking place on 19 July. Until then, we hope that the team will set off fireworks on the pitch and will have to do without the real Alpine panorama outside the window for as long as possible. While the name and age of the artist are still up in the air, in Germany it is already clear: Noah is the name of the eleven-year-old star at the pen who is hoping for more than one (Brandenburg) goal.
Source: Hyundai
The winner takes it all
For the chosen ones, there is not only fame and honour, but also a trip to the tournament including match attendance. Fifa and Hyundai are not letting themselves down. After all, the South Korean vehicle manufacturer is calling the campaign «Be There With Hyundai».
Other motifs can be seen in the collage at the top of the title: They show, for example, the Colombian superfan «El Cole» in his winged condor suit, cheering Jordanians or South Koreans united arm in arm. The images are as colourful as the world; each one has its very own signature and deviates from the branding monotony. There's still plenty of that: the printed buses will look something like this.
Source: Hyundai
What used to be on the buses
The «Be There With Hyundai» campaign has been around since 2006 - and since then, more or less creative slogans have filled the space on the team buses.
The national team travelled with «2006, it's Swiss o'clock», «Final destination: 11 July 2010», «Final stop: Maracanã!» and «Four Languages, One Nation» on the car. The German team travelled with «A time to make friends», «On the way to get the Cup!», «One Nation, One Team, One Dream!» and «Together! Writing History!» through the tournaments.
In 2022, there was one slogan for everyone. It read: «cheer» and the buses were plastered with sustainability messages such as «reduce your energy consumption» - which backfired in view of the fact that the tournament in Qatar was only supposedly climate-neutral. There was lots of criticism.
Compared to this, the current idea is really excellent.
Simple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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