Sports Illustrated paired illustrators with each of the 48 national teams competing in the 2026 World Cup, creating 48 digital magazine covers. I was invited to illustrate Portugal's one. 

I opted to portray the Portuguese team via its two natural leaders, Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. Ronaldo is pointing to a golden ball at his feet, the coveted Ballon D’Or, whose glow still carries him forward. Bruno is holding a Portuguese guitar, a symbol of Fado - Portugal’s national music - perennially filled with stories of sadness and fate, harbinger of the many times the team got so close to the prize but fell just a little bit short. Yet, not always, and, who knows, maybe not this time! Next to them sits a Barcelos Rooster, which over the years has become one of Portugal's most recognizable symbols. Whimsy and excessive, like so many of the tricks our players love to employ while juggling the ball. I’ve placed both players at the beach. Portugal is a narrow country with a very long coastline, and the beach is where every Portuguese child learns how to play soccer. When playing on sand, you can’t run very fast or very long, so you focus on skill. And thus, the expression “Brinca na areia” was born, which translates to “Plays in the sand”, which we used to apply derisively to our players, who showed amazing skill but little end-product. Nowadays that is no longer the case, but the expression has, nevertheless, stuck and is nowadays applied affectionately.

Art direction by Stephen Skalocky.