World Cup 2014: The List celebrates some of the best (and weirdest) Brazil 14 creativity

And so we reach World Cup eve, with all eyes on tomorrow’s big kick-off. Whether you’re beside yourself with excitement or couldn’t care less, it’s pretty hard to ignore and the hysteria will only crank up over the course of the next four weeks. We’ll continue to flag up World Cup inspired projects as the tournament progresses, but we thought it would be a good idea to use The List feature to get us off to a flying start.

There’s already been a lot of love around for Nike’s five-and-a-half-minute animated tour de force featuring Ronaldo, Neywar and Rooney taking on a team of automatons. The idea is to prove that it’s the very human ability to contemplate the outrageous that defines real football genius and the Wieden + Kennedy team have done a fine job milking that concept in style.
www.wk.com

Not to be done by their fierce rivals over at Nike, adidas’ Battle Pack campaign sees the excellent Timothy Sacenti shoot portraits with abstract patterns from the boots projected onto their roster of stars (Messi, Ozil, Suarez, Oscar). In Timothy’s hands the results are much more than the sum of its parts; bold, striking imagery that strikes exactly the right note.
www.timothysaccenti.com

We’ve been inundated with World Cup wall planners and so it was very tough to choose just one, but this effort from London-based agency Karoshi is a little bit special. Eschewing the nostalgic Match Magazine aesthetic of yore, it embraces instead a sleek, super-modern black and silver look that makes filling it in feel enjoyably important. It was also one of the first ones we got sent, so extra marks for that.
www.teamkaroshi.com

Again there’s a few interactive planners kicking around (PUN INTENDED) but this one from Fiasco goes that extra mile. As well as being really nicely designed and easy to use, it also offers “lots of weird and wonderful facts and trivia about the teams, players and history of the tournament” which gives it an edge over its many rivals. Highly recommended.
www.fiascodesign.co.uk

As usual the official fare is fairly uninspiring when it comes to World Cup songs; Pitbull’s official anthem is unlikely to be remembered much beyond, well July, while the Garries (what is the plural of Gary??) Barlow and Lineker came together for a version of the Take That hit Greatest Day for the England team. Much more interesting are the unofficial offerings though. Former England striker Dion Dublin and his band have reimagined the New Radicals (of all people) with the help of some England fans while comedian Omid Djalili (below) has created a catchy little number.

But by far my favourite comes from Twitter star @usasoccerguy whose Kick That Soccer Ball (above) includes lyrics such as “Four years, one cup/Turn the awesome up…”

The World Cup-themed issue of Creative Review features an interesting piece on the myriad FIFA rules governing football kit design, packed full of interesting tidbits about the various regulations and restrictions. But if you’re more interested in the finished products, then this interactive piece on The Guardian is right up your street; a guide to the uniforms each nation will wear and a look at the kits they donned for tournaments past. Be sure to check out Germany’s USA 94 rascal!
www.theguardian.com/football/ng-interactive

Thanks to this interesting piece over on Creative Bloq we learned that every World Cup has its own poster and Brazil 2014 is no exception. designed by the Crama agency, the concept was apparently “An entire country at football’s service… one shared identity.” It’s the archive where the real treats can be found though, particularly the Mexico 1970 and the bizarre Switzerland 1954 effort (both below).
www.crama.com.br

Fuleco is this year’s mascot, a Brazilian three-banded armadillo whose into music, social media and dry woodlands. It celebrates goals with its " famous "armadillo roll.” Mascots are weird.
www.en.mascot.fifa.com

The aforementioned footy-themed Creative Review is well worth getting hold of, but if you only read one World Cup-themed magazine this summer, make it COLORS. The publication’s usual intelligent and unusual approach is tailored perfectly to its theme and promises to “present the world’s most popular game as FIFA has never dared show it.” Yes please.
www.colorsmagazine.com