FIFA World Cup activations are getting a reboot.
Today, at the Round of 16 match at New York/New Jersey Stadium between Brazil and Norway, Hyundai Motor Company created the World Cup’s first robotics-powered halftime activation. During the stunt, Atlas, an advanced humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics, delivered the match ball and performed signature goal celebrations from stars such as Brazil’s Matheus Cunha and Norway’s Erling Haaland.
The activation serves as the first public demonstration of the real-world movement capabilities of Atlas, according to Hyundai, and the first integration of a humanoid robot into a live FIFA World Cup match environment.
“Rather than talking about innovation, we wanted to demonstrate it at the biggest scale possible,” Sungwon Jee, evp and global chief marketing officer, Hyundai Motor Company, told ADWEEK. “The World Cup gave us that stage. Atlas delivering the match ball wasn’t just a moment. It was the strategy made visible.”
Heading into this year’s tournament, Hyundai and its advanced robotics division, Boston Dynamics, were FIFA’s Official Robotics Partner for the 2026 World Cup, which meant finding a way to bring robotics into the experience.
According to Jee, the company didn’t want to just show up. It wanted to make a statement.
“We’re not just competing with other sponsors on that pitch. We’re competing with every reel, every short-form, every piece of content flooding people’s screens every second of every day,” Jee said. “In that context, incremental creativity isn’t enough. You need a moment so undeniably real, so present, that it breaks through.”
Focusing on future goals
The activation builds on Hyundai Motor’s global “Next Starts Now” campaign, where the company is showcasing innovation and the future of soccer/football through elements such as its “School of Football” content series featuring Atlas, several immersive fan experiences, youth football programs, and its fan engagement program, the “Be There With Hyundai” initiative.
“The World Cup, more than any other stage, is where the next generation of football steps up, and where the next ideas first appear,” Jee said. “That made it the natural home for ‘Next Starts Now,’ not just as a campaign platform, but as a live demonstration of what that future actually looks like.”
With the idea of creating a live demonstration, the activation featured several of Atlas’ real-world capabilities, including retargeting technology, which allows Atlas to translate and adapt human movements, such as soccer celebrations; reinforcement learning, utilizing thousands of simulations to train and refine movement; and whole body control, which coordinates movements of the robot’s body.
