Sport

The Yorkshire artist who’s put together the official FIFA World Cup scarf collection

Imagine getting that offer.

Danny Jones - 15th May 2026

A Yorkshire-born and bred artist and his creative team have earned the huge honour of creating the official FIFA scarf collection for this year's World Cup.

Nothing short of massive for anyone from our part of the world.

The local legend in question is Tom Pitts, who was born in Sheffield and is now based just beyond Leeds, leading the campaign right from the helm.

Hand Drawn Pixels is a graphic design and digital studio based in Otley, and while you'll see plenty of folks wearing football shirts and even the odd scarf on the town's famous pub crawl, these lot are venturing on an entirely different kind of run this summer.

Credit: **Hand Drawn Pixels** (supplied)

In fact, the work has very much already started, with Tom and co. collaborating directly with FIFA and US manufacturers, Global Scarves, to create the World Cup collection.

With this year's tournament obviously taking place across America, Mexico and Canada, they've joined up with a big LLC, but they describe themselves as "a true English custom scarf company with American parents."

In their words, "We knit scarves for clients all over the world", with a presence both near Leeds and over in Seattle, Washington.

The fixtures themselves kick off next month (England's first game coming against Croatia on 17 June), and so Hand Drawn Pixels have been hard at work meeting the briefs for each of the nations taking part.

Here's a quick breakdown of how the opportunity came about, their vision for the project, and how everything starts for them as a whole process.

You can see more of their work HERE, but as the brand name would suggest, it's pretty simple to begin with: nothing more than a pencil.

It's worth noting that the 2026 World Cup also featured the largest number of teams in the competition's history: 48 qualified national squads, to be exact. So, technically, they've had even more designing to do than they theoretically would have in any of the previous years, too.

Tom confessed that winning this bid is obviously a big deal on its own and that seeing his creations being worn in person by supporters at the stadiums will be a "surreal" experience.

Speaking exclusively with The Hoot, he said: "It’s been an amazing creative challenge for us to truly reflect the individuality and diversity of the nations competing in this prestigious tournament on such an iconic product as the football scarf."

He went on to add that "the whole project has been a huge learning experience, gaining deeper cultural insight into every nation involved."

More than 4.5 million fans have already entered the ballot for match tickets, and there have already been warnings issued over potential scam seats for World Cup '26.

We can't wait to cast eyes upon a sea of colour and finely crafted fabric in unique but somehow universally familiar patterns, all designed right here in 'God's Own Country'.