6 years of jersey design, 4 years of prep, 4 weeks of games: Execs at U.S. Soccer and Nike know how much this World Cup means

With less than two weeks until kickoff, the 2026 World Cup—co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico—has not been without some headaches, including sky-high ticket prices and unfilled hotel reservations. But for Nike and U.S. Soccer, the focus has been purely on putting the national team in position to make a deep run on home soil. Speaking at Fortune’s COO Summit in Scottsdale on Monday, Dan Helfrich, COO of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said the team’s jersey alone reflects those stakes. Designed in close collaboration with Nike, it was the result of a six-year process involving supply chains, manufacturing innovation, and, crucially, the players themselves. “It involved putting our players at the center of it,” Helfrich said. “We actually had two years of focus groups and design sessions with Nike designers and our players—both for the aesthetic look [and] the performance feel.” Helfrich, the former CEO of Deloitte Consulting, said all the players—which includes star forward Christian Pulisic—have described it as the best-looking and best-feeling jersey they’ve worn. “You’re looking for an advantage,” he said. “The margins are very thin on the field… that kit holds in its performance feel, but also the energy it’s giving our players, because they like the way they look. We believe it’s a real advantage.” Nike used obsessive procession to design jerseys for 18 soccer federations, including the U.S. For Nike, which outfits 18 national soccer federations—including also France, Croatia, and China—the World Cup is an operational challenge measured in Olympic-scale complexity. Venkatesh Alagirisamy, Nike’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, described the undertaking as years of preparation for a tournament that lasts only weeks. “It takes four years of preparation to execute four weeks of World Cup games to leave a lasting impression for the next four years,” Alagirisamy said on the Fortune panel titled “Game On: The