The 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris kicked off on July 26, with many of the best athletes in the world gathering to compete for their countries. Some of the world’s best photographers are there, too, capturing all the action. Here’s a look at some of the most dazzling images so far.
Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images; Stuart Franklin/Getty Images; Jean Catuffe/Getty Images
Over the years, the songs that provide a soundtrack to the World Cup have become a significant part of the tournament, almost as important as the games. Some anthems have reached far beyond the field to offer a true moment of unity (“Cup of Life,” anyone?) As the 2026 games kick off, we surveyed all of the official FIFA songs and anthems (not soundtrack singles) since 1990, and highlighted the most inescapable bops, along with some that may have gotten lost to time. Check them out below.
ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty ImagesFor the 2006 tournament, held in Germany, European classical group Il Divo and R&B icon Toni Braxton leaned into their strengths as musicians with a ballad-like entry into World Cup anthems, switching up the format of hype-up tracks. Against the swell of an orchestra, their voices unite to sing about the “glory and the pain” of making it to the big game.
Shaun Botterill/FIFA/Getty ImagesThis song was named after the Arabic interjection for “let’s go” and packs all of that rousing energy into an Afrobeat pop song with Middle Eastern inflections. “You know we’re better together,” American singer Trinidad Cardona, Nigerian star Davido and Qatari singer Aisha all sing together in the final chorus, demonstrating the cross-cultural element inherent in World Cup music.
Paul Natkin/Getty ImagesThe last time the U.S. hosted the World Cup was in 1994, and that year, Daryl Hall was tapped to sing over “Gloryland,” inspired in part by Civil War-era song “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Because, really, what screams U.S. patriotism more than half of Hall & Oates evoking a battle cry with a gospel choir in tow?
Alex Livesey/FIFA/Getty ImagesSomething was in the air in 2014. With Carlos Santana, Wyclef Jean, Avicii, and Brazilian singer Alexandre Pires at the helm, this track blends genres from rock to EDM and even hints of samba. The anthemic quality is underlined by Wyclef Jean’s inspirational lyrics as he addresses underprivileged children across the world: “Ain’t no mountain you can’t reach /Grab a star and make a wish.”
Dennis Grombkowski/FIFA/Getty ImagesAfter the success of Shakira’s 2010 “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” two more Latin music icons decided to give the World Cup anthem a try. On the 2014 track, Pitbull lives up to his Mr. Worldwide moniker with signature whistles that perfectly blend against the Afro-Brazilian rhythms, while J-Lo delivers Boricuan bars in contrast to Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte’s sleek vocals. The song is a blast, but admittedly more reminiscent of mid-2010s club culture than soccer games.
picture alliance/Getty ImagesReal talk, we have Chilean rockers Los Ramblers to thank for kicking off all of the wondrous World Cup music. Back in 1962, when the tournament was hosted in Chile, the band released this festive rockabilly track ahead of the first game as a way to cheer on the national team with Chilean chants and fun riffs. Los Ramblers weren’t even being contracted by FIFA but it turns out that didn’t matter — people love a sports soundtrack, no matter what. “El Rock del Mundial” became an instant hit in South America (and still remains one of the best-selling records in Chilean music history), which planted the seed of an idea in FIFA’s mind.
Michelly Rall/Getty Images for Live Earth EventsIf Ricky Martin created the World Cup global hit blueprint, Shakira elevated the formula with the unifying “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” which blends Afro-Colombian elements with South African music styles. The track was inescapable in 2010; you didn’t even have to tune into any matches to hear it. In 2024, it became the most streamed FIFA World Cup song and even earned a Guinness World Record. “It’s one of my biggest songs of all time,” Shakira said earlier this year. “But beyond what it did for my music and career … it turned me into my mother.” On the set of “Waka Waka,” the superstar met professional football player Gerard Piqué, the father of her two children. After all of these years, Shakira continues to honor the song by making it a staple of her concert setlists.
GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty ImagesRicky Martin literally changed the game with this samba-infused anthem. “La Copa de la Vida,” or “The Cup of Life” was the first official FIFA-sponsored song to skyrocket in popularity and turned into a global pop mega-hit, reaching Number One in 30 countries. With the vivacious track and its celebratory video, the Puerto Rican singer and former boy band member rocketed into stardom. But the impact of “La Copa de la Vida” extends far beyond that year’s tournament. At the 1999 Grammys ceremony, Martin delivered a monumental performance of the song, effectively launching Latin pop’s late Nineties explosion into high-gear. In his 2010 memoir, Me, Martin recognized the pivotal moment, writing, “It was a unique opportunity to introduce the charms of Latin music to the rest of the world.”
Taylor Swift at Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks on June 10, 2026 in New York City.
Taylor Swift, who’s been spotted sitting courtside at Knicks games in the past, showed her support for New York’s team while wearing a “Stevie Knicks” tee alongside Alana and Este Haim when she arrived at Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday. The Knicks are playing against the San Antonio Spurs.
Swift was often seen at Knicks games in the mid 2010s. More recently, the singer and her football-playing fiancé, Travis Kelce, were spotted sitting courtside at the Eastern Conference Finals in May when the Knicks were playing the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“Not a lot of teams have been able to get Taylor to wear a jersey, and the Knicks did,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast in May, according to Sportsnaut. “Tay’s got a lot of New York ties, so when it came down to like going to the Cavs game, she was kinda like, ‘Oh nice, they’re playing the Knicks, like sweet! I’ve seen them play before.'” (Kelce, who has Ohio roots, was rooting for the Cavs.)
In 2014, she told Time that she was “totally” a Knicks fan after moving to New York. When the interview commented that they weren’t playing very well at the time, she shrugged it off. “I love them, though,” she said. “Why does that matter? … I’ve always had this sort of love of the Knicks, just because Amar’e [Stoudemire, who retired from the NBA in 2016] is so cool. And also I performed at the Knicks’ — at Madison Square Garden’s — Kids Talent Competition at halftime when I was 12 or 13. And ever since then I’ve had this kind of sparkly, magical opinion of Madison Square Garden and the Knicks, since they let me sing when I was a little kid.”
Swift, of course, has become well known as a sports enthusiast outside of basketball. Since she began dating Kelce, she has been a regular at Kansas City Chiefs games. The couple also attended the first game of the AL Championship Series at Yankee Stadium in 2024, according to The Associated Press.
Timothée Chalamet, Ben Stiller, Tina Fey, and Tracy Morgan, among others, have all been spotted at NBA Finals games in the past week. So has Donald Trump, who was booed.
Hulk Hogan at the ITV Studios in London, England.
Hulk Hogan died of natural causes, according to a report by Florida police that officially closes the investigation into the wrestler’s death.
Per a 72-page report released on Friday by the Clearwater Police Department that includes medical records, statements, and surveillance footage, “There has been no evidence to indicate the death of Terry Bollea was anything other than natural.” The report stated: “Through the course of the investigation, there has been no evidence to indicate any criminal wrongdoing related to his death. This case will be closed, and will be considered solved, non-criminal.”
Hogan died in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 71 in July 2025 after paramedics responded to a “cardiac arrest” call at the wrestler’s home. Medical records reportedly revealed that Hogan was previously diagnosed with atrial fibrillation — a heart condition defined as having an irregular heart rhythm — and chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a form of cancer.
A month after his passing, Hogan’s daughter, Brooke, shared a lengthy statement on Instagram about the circumstances surrounding her father’s death. She claimed to have received calls from various professionals, including cops and nurses, who claimed to be with Hogan the day he died and told her that the police body cam footage and 911 tapes “supposedly contain information that could potentially shed enough light to change the narrative” (via People).
She continued: “Those same professionals feel so passionately about what they witnessed, they have continued to contact me and push me to find specific answers to this very day. They are quite literally putting their careers at risk because they feel so compelled to do the right thing. The short of it is — it’s all up to my dad’s wife and I have zero control. I can not do anything, my hands are tied, and I have no say in anything regarding my dad — even as his daughter. These are the rules as I’ve been told.”
According to the new report, Hogan’s wife Sky Daily Hogan, a home health aide, and an occupational therapist were with him at his home when he stopped breathing. Sky called 911 and CPR was performed until firefighters and paramedics arrived, the report stated.
Hogan had been suffering from numerous heath issues befo
Drake has a bourbon. Wayne Gretzky has a winery and distillery. Céline Dion has perfumes. Justin Bieber co-created a line of Timbits with Tim Hortons. Ryan Reynolds invested in and sold a gin business. And don’t get me started on the number of celebrities who attempted to launch a cannabis brand.
Canada has produced a remarkable number of global cultural icons, and some have managed to follow a particular playbook – build the fame, then monetize it through brand extensions, equity stakes, licensing arrangements, and product partnerships. The press releases are always celebratory.
The legal documents supporting them are something else entirely.
As a lawyer, I spend my days reading the contracts that nobody photographs at the announcement event: the trademark licensing agreements, the investment documents, and the co-branding arrangements that determine who actually owns what when the social media rollout is over. Here are a few takeaways about doing business with public figures that I have learned.
Start with the most basic point, which is also the most persistently overlooked: a celebrity’s name, likeness, and associated trademarks are valuable commercial properties – arguably more valuable, in some cases, than any underlying product they’re attached to.
When a musician lends their name to a food brand, or when an athlete invests in a supplements company, the deal is not really about the consumer product. It’s about attaching a protected intellectual property asset, the celebrity’s brand, to a commercial vehicle and hoping both parties benefit from the arrangement. The product is the delivery mechanism. The name is the thing of value.
That means trademark registration for the product is not a formality to be handled after the deal closes. It’s the foundation on which the entire structure rests. A name or logo that has not been properly registered in each relevant jurisdiction is a brand that can be squatted on, diluted, counterfeited, or simply appropriated by someone who filed with the trademark office first. Canada and the United States operate entirely separate trademark systems, and the assumption that U.S. registration provides meaningful protection against Canadian exposure (or vice versa) is a costly and remarkably common mistake. The window between when a deal is announced publicly and when someone files a trademark application in the other country can be very short.
I’ve seen it happen.
A celebrity brand deal will often involve the announcement of an “equity stake”, and with good reason: it sounds better than a licensing fee, it aligns long-term incentives, and it gives the celebrity a narrative about ownership rather than mere endorsement. Ownership plays better in interviews. It photographs better. It fits the zeitgeist of an era in which every cultural figure is expected to also be an entrepreneur.
But equity in a private company is worth exactly what the underlying shareholders’ agreement says it’s worth. If that agreement gives the celebrity a minority position with limited information rights, no meaningful board representation, a drag-along provision that can force them out on someone else’s timeline, and a poorly drafted exit mechanism, the stake may be genuinely difficult to realize. The celebrity’s name has provided the brand with enormous commercial value. The celebrity themselves may end up holding paper that’s hard to convert into anything tangible.
This matters with particular sharpness in the restaurant and food-and-beverage sector, where celebrity brand extensions are both especially common and especially prone to reputational risk, which are always newsworthy, but can collapse in a wave of bad press. There is no indemnification clause that makes a tabloid story disappear.
When a celebrity-backed restaurant concept fails publicly and messily, the legal documents may determine who absorbs the financial loss. They don’t determine who absorbs the brand damage.
Equity and licensing are only part of the legal architecture. The other part is the endorsement agreement itself. Most endorsement contracts contain two categories of termination risk that are rarely publicized. The first is the morality clause: a provision that gives the brand the right to terminate if the endorser becomes, in the sponsor’s judgment, the subject of public disrepute, scandal, or conduct that reflects unfavourably on the brand. The language is typically broad by design, and it is the subjective decision of the brand owner that could lead to disputes.
Canada has produced its own instructive case on exactly this intersection. In Zigomanis v. D’Angelo Brands, an Ontario court considered what happened when an energy drink company purported to terminate its endorsement deal with professional hockey player Mike Zigomanis on two grounds: that he had been demoted from the NHL to a minor league affiliate, and that intimate photographs he had privately sent his then-girlfriend before the contract was signed had later been published online without his consent. The brand argued that both events triggered the termination provisions. The court disagreed on both counts. The demotion, it found, was not clearly captured by the contract’s language as a ground for termination. The photographs, taken and shared privately before the agreement existed, did not constitute conduct that would “shock, insult, or offend the community” within the meaning of the morals clause – particularly given that the communications were private, consensual, and predated the contract. D’Angelo Brands had wrongfully terminated the agreement and was liable for the full value of the contract.
The lesson is that the morality clause negotiation deserves as much attention as the fee negotiation. A broadly drafted clause gives the brand enormous unilateral power to exit a relationship at the first sign of controversy, leaving the endorser with damages litigation as their only remedy. A narrowly drafted clause protects the endorser but may leave the brand exposed to exactly the kind of reputational association it was trying to avoid. Neither party benefits from imprecision. The contract that everyone signs at the announcement event is the same contract that determines who pays whom when things fall apart.
None of this is an argument against celebrity brand partnerships, which can be genuinely lucrative and strategically intelligent when properly structured. It is an argument for treating the legal architecture of the deal with the same seriousness as the marketing strategy, rather than rushing it as the last step.
Register the trademarks associated with the celebrity-backed product before anything is announced. Negotiate the shareholders’ agreement as carefully as you negotiate the equity percentage, because the percentage is almost meaningless without understanding the terms that govern it. Know what a name is licensed to do, what standards govern how it’s used, and what happens to it contractually if the company using it goes bankrupt, gets acquired, or simply stops returning calls.
The photo at the announcement event will live on social media indefinitely. The contract will live in a drawer. But when things go sideways, it is the contract that determines what happens next.
Fame is the asset. The agreement is the insurance policy.
Chad Finkelstein is a partner and registered trademark agent with the law firm of Dale & Lessmann, in Toronto.
On May 29, the Fondation du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal will hold the 18th edition of Les Printemps du MAC at Place Ville Marie.
Under the theme Carpe Noctem, the fundraising event will bring together contemporary art, music, and nightlife, while supporting Habiter le MAC, the MAC’s new career development program.
Since its launch in 2006, Les Printemps du MAC has become one of the most sought-after evenings in Montreal’s cultural ecosystem. Created to connect a new generation of patrons with the city's contemporary art museum, the event has raised more than three million dollars for the institution since 2006.
The 2026 edition, presented by BonLook, also arrives during an important transition period for the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, which is preparing for its major reopening at Place des Arts in 2028.
Until then, the museum continues its activities at Place Ville Marie, where Habiter le MAC is taking shape. The program gives six emerging Quebec artists access to studio space, mentorship, and professional guidance over an eight-month period.
Attendees will be able to visit the works of Sierra Barber, Miri Chek, Marly Fontaine, Po B. K. Lomami, Myriam Simard-Parent, and Sarah Toung Ondo, who make up the inaugural cohort. Montréal artist François Morelli serves as mentor for the project.
Beyond its philanthropic mission, the event maintains the celebratory format that has contributed to its success over the years. The music programming, curated by Aire commune, will feature DJs FRIKITON, HULI, and SAP, alongside activations, food stations, and various bold interventions spread throughout the venue.
Part of what makes Les Printemps du MAC such a sought-after event is that it serves as a meeting point for Montreal’s art, fashion, and nightlife communities. The event attracts cultural workers, creative professionals, and contemporary art enthusiasts alike, in a setting that feels less institutional than what is typically associated with the museum.
Every ticket sold contributes to supporting emerging local artists through Habiter le MAC.
Les Printemps du MAC, presented by BonLook, takes place on May 29 at Place Ville Marie. For full details and to secure tickets before the remaining VIP passes disappear, visit the official website.
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