Marco Balich, Balich Wonder Studios

Although Italy failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, it still scored.

Balich Wonder Studio, the Milan-based live entertainment agency trusted by FIFA to produce the World Cup’s opening and closing ceremonies, bookended a historic tournament — the largest ever with a record 48 nations scattered across three host countries.

Spearheading Sunday’s concert extravaganza was chief executive officer Marco Balich, whose CV includes the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and 17 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But Balich’s reach extends far beyond sports. Under its Bespoke label, Balich Wonder Studio frequently collaborates with major players in Italy’s luxury sector like Bulgari, Dolce & Gabbana, and Max Mara, organizing runway shows and once-in-a-lifetime events for high-net-worth customers.

As the two industries become increasingly friendly (Balich is engaged to Gucci’s chief executive officer Francesca Bellettini) and experiential spending continues to drive growth, the “designer of dreams,” as he’s been called, wields a unique position in shaping culture on a global scale.

In fact, once of those dreams is to bring the Camera Della Moda, Fédération de la Haute Couture and the British and American fashion councils together to create an industrywide awards show. “That’d be very cool,” he said, during an interview at his Manhattan hotel, “to see the designer of the year for the world celebrated by the fashion community all together. That would be a beautiful goal.”

Kicking off World Cup weekend, Balich did what he does best: entertain. After a cocktail party at the Italian Consulate on Friday, celebrations continued into Monday night at the Core Club, where he raised a glass to another successful closing ceremony and revealed his expansion plans for Balich Wonder Studio, including two new headquarters, in New York and Los Angeles. 

Now that Spain has claimed victory over Argentina, WWD sat down with Balich to discuss the nuts-and-bolts of World Cup planning, his other dream of working with Ralph Lauren, and if he’ll be returning to the soccer pitch in 2030.

WWD: The 2026 World Cup was the first to be hosted by three countries. How did you create a single narrative to connect the opening ceremonies in Canada, Mexico, and the United States while respecting their unique identities?

Marco Balich: At the beginning, the opening ceremony was meant to be held in Mexico and the final in New York. Then the political situation evolved, so FIFA decided to have three ceremonies with three different creative teams because we like to involve local communities. So we narrated three different approaches: the Mexican one with the feathers and then the cool L.A. one, you know, a chill, surfing kind of approach, and then the Canadian one, which was very earthy, rural, with big animals.

WWD: What specific challenges do the World Cup ceremonies present compared to the Olympics or other events? Can you share one example from this year that might surprise audiences?

M.B. The Olympics is a global event, and you don’t celebrate the rivalry, you just celebrate the values that it represents, which is putting everyone together on the same level. The FIFA philosophy is that the ceremony is more of a cocktail before the meal, not an essential part. Also in a three-hour opening ceremony in the Olympics, you can embrace many topics. Here, it’s adrenaline building, so there’s a boom, then you have the match.

When FIFA asked us also to celebrate the Fourth of July in Philadelphia, which is where the Declaration of Independence was written, that was challenging. But we came up with a very beautiful concept, and it was so clean and nonpoliticized. It was not too much Fox, and it was not too much CNN. 

WWD: How did you design the closing ceremony to resonate equally with the fans inside MetLife stadium and the viewers watching on television or streaming platforms?

M.B. You cannot do a TV show. You have to generate the energy there that you then transfer through the broadcast lenses. It doesn’t go the other way around. 

WWD: What influence has new technology — AI, drones, immersive lighting, or broadcast innovation — had on your approach to production? How do you balance technological innovation with authenticity?

M.B. To me, technology is never the focus; it’s always the tool. So, whatever we need, we use, whether its the generation of AI images or virtual planning of a lighting session or creating pyrotechnics, but it remains the people and the message, that’s the key. Because, in the end, those big sporting events are about celebrating a community. The Olympics, for example, or FIFA aggregate everyone, maybe not so much in the States, in the case of football (soccer), but the rest of the world really looks up to it.

WWD: There was a mixed roster of celebrity appearances Sunday, from Post Malone to Tom Cruise and Jennifer Hudson, who sang the national anthem. How did you arrive at this lineup? What qualities did you look for when casting performers? 

M.B. With Tom Cruise, he was very open to just talking to the people because actors are especially used to being surrounded by film crews and he read the speech by memory completely. Post Malone was decided by FIFA, and he brought that cowboy, Western thing. It was good.

To be completely honest, there was not a curator. It was whoever was available. Chris Martin did a fantastic job involving Madonna and Shakira and all those guys for the halftime show. He was in charge of the direction of that. It was not us. Jennifer Hudson was with us.

WWD: Your fiancée is Gucci’s CEO Francesca Bellettini. What’s a valuable lesson she taught you about the fashion industry and how have you implemented it in your line of work? 

M.B.: Before witnessing with her the construction of a fashion show, I was very analytical. Clothing is not really my thing, but I could see something. I remember some very interesting shows from [Demna] when he was at Balenciaga, even if I never bought anything Balenciaga, or Alessandro Michele at Gucci with the twins — they were very interesting spectacles that were meaningful. So what I learned from Francesca is the enormous amount of work that lies behind that message, and when there is no message, it’s an empty exercise. You need to have a message in order to generate the wish to buy that brand. 

WWD: Why did you choose to introduce Bespoke? How much does the fashion and luxury sector contribute to your overall business?

M.B. Maybe because I’m Venetian, I don’t know, I love beauty.

A few years ago, we involved two partners of ours who are very focused on luxury, and they did a fantastic job. They did this Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda thing, we’re working for Emporio Armani, we just did a beautiful show for Max Mara in Shanghai. A lot of jewelry, Buccellati, the good stuff.

Right now the luxury market is dominated by two [entertainment] companies, maybe three, and we want to represent the new voice. We are not new, but we know how to produce with quality. We also bring a breath of fresh air. Because we contaminate ourselves with sports, we are much more open to things. This is the way we want to present Bespoke. If you want to do a classic fashion show, don’t come to us. 

WWD: If you could direct a runway show for any designer or fashion house, past or present, who would it be and why?

M.B. I would do two. I would do a fashion show for the chicest designer who, for me, is Anthony Vaccarello (creative director of Saint Laurent). I would love to bring a different voice to his very precise universe.

And the second one, which is totally for the opposite reason, is I would like to make a beautiful celebration for a brand that has joy inside, and that would be Ralph Lauren. He likes the beautiful cars, the furniture, he has that sense of family. It’s not [just] fashion, it’s holistic in a way.

WWD: Sporting events are often judged by their legacy. What do you hope people will remember about the 2026 World Cup 10 years from now?

M.B. First of all, I hope that football, soccer, picks up in the U.S. And second, politics should stay out of sports.

WWD: Can you talk about your plans for Balich Wonder Studio in the U.S.?

M.B. We are opening Bespoke in New York to nurture our dream of being the new voice in luxury production.

We want to consolidate our sports side, which here you have a lot of, so we can bring our experience because we’re already doing so many sporting events around the world. 

The fashion in New York, I think, is needed because my understanding is luxury needs to have the clients more involved because the brands are icons, they’re IP in a way, that represent lifestyle, they represent values, they represent a lot of things more than just the actual clothing. That’s where we can contribute a lot because we are used to putting together different cultures, different points of view, and then making them go “wow.”  I’m really looking forward to seeing if that Ralph Lauren event will ever happen.

WWD: If FIFA asks you to come back to design the 2030 World Cup ceremonies in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, what would you want the theme or central message to be?

M.B.: I just finished this one, so we have to rest.