GONÇALO VIANA | COVER ART FOR PORTUGAL WORLD CUP FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
May 15, 2026 Gonçalo Viana
Sports Illustrated paired illustrators with each of the 48 National teams competing in the 2026 World Cup, creating 48 digital magazine covers. #lcmartist Gonçalo Viana was invited to illustrate Portugal’s cover.
Gonçalo opted to portray the Portuguese team via its two natural leaders, Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes. Ronaldo is pointing to a golden ball at his feet, the coveted Ballon D’Or, whose glow still carried him forward. Bruno is holiding a Portuguese guitar, symbol of Fado-Portugal’s national music-perennially filled with stories of sadness and fate, harbinger of the many times the team got so very close to the prize but fell just a little bit short. Yet, not always, and who knows, not this time!
Next to them sits a Barcelos Rooster, which over the years has become one of Portugal’s most recognizable symbols. Whimsy and excessive, like so many of the tricks Portugal’s players love to employ whie juggling the ball. Gonçalo has placed both players at the beach. Portugal is a narrow country with a very long coastline, and the beach is where every Portugese child learns how to play soccer. When playing on sand, you can’t run very fast or very long, so you focus on skill. And thus, the expression “Brinca na area” was born, which translates to “Play in the sand,” which they used to apply derisively to their players, who showed amazing skill but little end-product. Nowadays that is definitely no longer the case, but the expression has, nevertheless, stuck and is nowadays applied affectionately.
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