The first big event of 2026 has already happened. Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations at the weekend, but Ivory Coast stole the show in Morocco with their arrival fits, designed by local luxury house Maison Elie Kuame. The same day Senegal lifted the trophy, the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic faced off at The O2 in London. It was the NBA’s first London game for seven years. Balenciaga hosted the after-party and dropped a new collab. 

Next up, it’s the Winter Olympics. They start next week in Milan, another one of the world’s fashion capitals. Big names are upping their game accordingly, with Ralph Lauren’s work for Team USA catching eyes as it dropped. 

Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara on Sunday 8th February is shaping to be American football’s most fashion-forward showpiece yet, with Abercrombie & Fitch and Thom Browne both putting on first-of-their-kind events in the Californian city.

The road to this summer’s World Cup in the States has been a long one for the teams, and for their kit makers too. On one day last November, Adidas unveiled their designs for 22 different countries – look out for Lamine Yamal as a cowboy and Lionel Messi at the bowling alley. 

Yamal is in demand, also modelling Barcelona’s new Amiri formalwear, and so is his predecessor as the undisputed best young player in the world. France’s Kylian Mbappé – hat-trick scorer in the last World Cup final – is now the face of Irish designer Jonathan Anderson’s debut collection for Dior, which also keeps Lewis Hamilton on its books.

But fashion is no longer just harnessing the star power of the very best players. Top-tier French label Jacquemus recently became the shirt sponsor for AS Charleval, a provincial outfit many leagues down in France’s footballing pyramid. This isn’t just wilful hipsterism – Charleval are from close to where Simon Porte Jacquemus grew up.

Across the border in Italy, rapper Drake is now a co-owner of traditional Serie A/B yo-yo club Venezia (nowhere near where he grew up). His Nike sub-brand Nocta is making their kits, for which the bar was set high by Kappa, who had already made the team more famous for its regalia than its results. 

Como 1907 are another smaller Italian club playing a new kind of game. A-listers from Andrew Garfield to Hugh Grant have been in the crowd for matches at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia Djarum, their lakefront stadium that shares a shoreline with George Clooney’s famous villa. The team arrives in double-breasted Brioni suits, and a special fourth kit was co-designed by luxe LA streetwear label Rhude – whose founder Rhuigi Villaseñor is also Como’s chief brand officer.