Nike did not treat the World Cup like one massive glossy campaign and then vanish once the opening game kicked off. Rip The Script kept showing up through creators, communities, gaming, physical spaces and everything happening around the tournament. It felt much closer to how football actually lives now, through group chats, watch parties, local cages, big fits, music, memes and all the chat that carries on long after the final whistle. Instead of expecting one hero film to do all the work, Nike gave people loads of different ways to tap in and find their own corner of it. It also helped that the talent involved was already giving the internet plenty to work with. Between Haaland being Haaland and Mbappé continuing to feel like the main character of football, there was loads of fuel for the memes, edits and conversations that naturally spill out around players like that.
TOMA was probably the clearest example of that. Let’s be real, this World Cup felt out of reach for loads of people. Flights were expensive, tickets were hard to come by and the whole thing could feel like it was taking place in another universe. TOMA brought some of that buzz back down to earth by creating places where people could actually meet, play and get involved. More than 10,000 young athletes took part across 25 cities since Toma launched, which included stops in Barcelona, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City and New York City around the tournament, while over 3.3 million people connected through livestreams across North America, Europe and Latin America.
That is what made TOMA such a proper masterclass in community. It did not pretend everyone could be at the World Cup or try to serve up a watered down copy of the real thing. It built its own energy around the tournament, rooted in local football and the people already doing bits in those scenes. It took something that felt miles away and gave it a local postcode. People were not just watching from the sidelines. They had their own crews, their own atmosphere and their own version of the moment.
And importantly, TOMA was not just a nice community moment that disappeared once everyone went home. There was a real pathway attached to it. Select players could walk away with Nike brand ambassador opportunities, future Toma Finals access and continued development support, while winners at the National Finals could earn a one year Nike brand ambassador deal alongside custom product, performance resources and mentorship. That gives the whole thing a bit more weight because for the kids involved, it could genuinely be the start of something rather than just a cool day out.
What really made that approach click was the way it understood that football culture does not start and stop with the match. The game might be the reason people come together, but the real connection often happens in everything around it, from the people you meet to the music playing, the shirts being worn and the stories being shared. By giving those moments room to breathe, the tournament started to feel less like a distant spectacle and more like something people could properly step into.
Nike’s X2 capsule collection pushed that thinking into fashion and local identity by partnering with seven federations, seven collaborators and seven community organizations creating the future of youth sports. Palace brought proper terrace flavour to England, Jacquemus gave France that clean, effortless energy, NOCTA gave Canada a bit more global cultural weight, and Slawn brought the chaos and personality that made sense for Nigeria. The point was not that every collaboration looked the same. It was that each one felt connected to the country, the scene and the people around it.
That is why those partnerships landed. They did not feel like football borrowing cool names for a quick headline. They felt like different parts of culture meeting with intention. Each collaborator brought their own world into the game, while the community organisations attached to the project gave it a bit more meaning beyond the clothes.
There was also something smart in how different the collaborations felt from one another. Nothing was forced into one neat look or one version of football culture. Each partnership carried its own references, attitude and audience, which made the wider project feel more alive. It showed that football can hold loads of different identities at once and still feel connected by the same game. From an Outlander point of view, the best bits were where Nike set the scene and then let culture do its thing. TOMA made an inaccessible tournament feel closer. X2 let different countries show their own flavour through collaborators who already had skin in the game.
