By: Miliana Palacios-Ruiz
Staff Writer
Horns cut through the computer speakers as Jose Hadathy, a SCAD alum, creative manager and graphic designer for Atlanta United, and I met over Zoom in early October. His name started making the rounds globally when he was chosen to design the official 2026 FIFA World Cup poster for Atlanta, one of the 16 host cities selected for the upcoming tournament.
Our conversation started in his hometown, Quito, Ecuador. He smiled as he leaned on his forearms, reminiscing about the high-weather life, street soccer matches and the dismantling of rivalries as the national team played. “Soccer down there trumps all,” he noted.
That same devotion drove his World Cup poster design, which includes a collection of Atlanta’s iconic locations, from the Pride crosswalks in Midtown to the arches of Clark Atlanta University. “I wanted people who live here to feel represented,” he said, “but also to teach those who don’t know the city.”
For Hadathy, proper representation of Atlanta was crucial. “There are so many parts of it, and some are highlighted more often than others. I didn’t want to just focus on, ‘this is our shiny skyline…’ I think it’s just important to show the city as it is and not as how some people would want it to be seen.”
It took six months, and between portfolio critiques and studio time, he developed a strong work ethic. His biggest takeaway from his time as a student at SCAD was accepting that your work isn’t your identity.
During the pandemic, he veered away from fine arts, taught himself graphic design and began printing soccer shirts by hand in his apartment. He’d stay up late pressing shirts, to the point his fiancée would ask, “Why are you doing all this?” Hadathy would respond, “I don’t know. I just love it.”
That passion caught the attention of Larry Luk, vice president of creative at the Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. After just a few months of knowing each other, Hadathy joined Atlanta United as a senior graphic designer.
He never anticipated the opportunity to merge his passions. Yet an even bigger call awaited him: designing on the world stage. He was flattered when he received the call and excited to celebrate a sport that isn’t yet a centerpiece of American culture. He approached the brief like composing a pop song: It had to resonate everywhere, yet still feel distinctly like Atlanta.
Hadathy thinks of himself as a storyteller first, a designer second. “The goal of design is to make things that people want to hold and keep,” he said. That belief runs through everything he makes, from Atlanta United’s Somos Atlanta collection, which celebrates Latin identity and inclusivity, to Atlanta’s FIFA poster, now destined for museums. “I hope it represents a successful tournament that is remembered for the excitement, for the joy, for the way that it brought all people together,” he said.
For Hadathy, it’s also a door opening. He sees Atlanta as the stage for the next era of American soccer. “Atlanta has proven that there is that sort of hunger and desire [for soccer]for the state and the city,” he said, adding, “I’m expecting a huge, huge surge of interest in soccer after the World Cup, for sure. Atlanta is definitely going to become a part of the global conversation.”
As 2026 nears, that conversation has already begun. The city has revitalized and expanded its infrastructure alongside dozens of other efforts.
Atlanta is ready for the future, and Jose Hadathy is helping lead it.
This article appeared in the 2026 edition of the Creative Economy Journal. See more from the Journal here.
