This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Zach Golden. It has been edited for length and clarity.
When the first game of the 2026 World Cup was played, I got everything ready and set up in my living room to watch it. There was no way I was going to miss the start of the game, because I knew I’d be hearing the theme song I had spent months composing.
I’ve always loved music
I’ve been a musician for as long as I can remember, starting out in high school bands, and in college at Berklee, focusing on audio engineering and jazz composition. As a young adult, I fell in love with composing music, disappearing for hours to make my own creations.
When a friend told me about an entry-level job at a company called UMPG Audio Branding (formerly ELIAS) that would include tasks like data management and file renaming, I interviewed and got the job.
It was my “in” into the industry.
Year after year, I took on more responsibility within the company, eventually working my way up to creative director and lead composer.
The company I worked at was approached by FIFA in 2020
In late 2020, we were approached by FIFA to put together a theme song composition for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
We spoke with FIFA to figure out what the music needed to sound like. Once we had a plan, we started the composition process, and then Qatari instrumentalists were recorded to give it the sound that the Qatar theme needed. They wanted the music localized, the correct style and instrumentation for Qatar and the MENA region. We created a theme song they liked, and they used it for the 2022 World Cup. This was my first composition for FIFA, but it wouldn’t be my last.
They approached us again ahead of the 2026 World Cup
FIFA approached us again, leading up to this year’s World Cup, and asked us to go through our process of creating a sonic identity to find a theme that sounded like FIFA. There were other composers creating, too — a mix of people who work within UMPG Audio Branding and freelancers. FIFA would then decide which they’d use from the options offered.
The first thing we had to do was establish the creative parameters. FIFA described the music through a series of emotions and descriptive words, but translating those ideas into sound was the real challenge, because everyone interprets those words differently.
To do this, I didn’t touch a keyboard. Instead, I remember exploring songs and sounds we already had in the UMPG library, going back and forth with FIFA to establish the guardrails of what we could create.
This is a wonderful part of the creation process — understanding the people who will listen, the people who will create, and what needs to be made.
Once we knew what we could work with, the imaginative process of composing began.
I wanted to find a melody that would make the listener feel they were at a match, that they’d been transported to a stadium and were surrounded by tens of thousands of fans waiting for the game to start. I wanted there to be excitement, buildup, breaks, and darker moments of battle — the song needed to explore every aspect of the game.
I finally landed on one that did it all.
They chose my composition, and I was blown away
In January 2024, we were informed on a Zoom call that my composition had been chosen by FIFA as the 2026 World Cup theme song.
I was blown away. I think I probably went out and bought a nice bottle of something to celebrate.
As part of the creative process, I always wonder: Was that good enough? I love what I make, but there is always a second-guessing voice in my head, suggesting it could have been better.
This composition was good enough, because I now hear it every time I watch a World Cup game.
In speaking about the composition on social media, I’ve received so many responses from people affected by the music. A parent telling me their kid sings the song all the time. A son letting me know he’s been watching the World Cup with his dad, and the melody brings back all of the memories they have made together.
That’s what music does; it provides an emotional connection. It’s why I’ve always loved music.
The World Cup is nearly over, and my melody won’t be played every week for the whole world to hear anymore. I’ll definitely be sad about it, but every time I doubt myself, I’ll be able to remember that somehow, lightning struck twice. I — this guy in Brooklyn that no one knows — wrote the World Cup theme song, twice.
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