HOME OF FOOTBALL: HOME & AWAY exhibition by Crosby Studios – All photos are by Pauline Shapiro.

Design. As the FIFA World Cup 2026 rolls on, Crosby Studios has joined forces with cultural platform Home of Football and French arts collective Air Afrique on a pop-up that looks at the sport’s legacy from an unexpected perspective. Named Home of Football: Home & Away, the exhibition at New York Citty’s High Line 9 in Chelsea unfolds across six thematic chapters, bringing together rare memorabilia through a refreshingly cross-disciplinary lens.

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“This concept is about the clash between football, fashion, and art culture,” explains Harry Nuriev, artist, designer, and founder of Crosby Studios. “It is a form of cultural transformism, translating the energy and visual codes of football into a new media format that feels open and accessible, not only to football fans, but also to people discovering this world for the first time.”

Air Afrique curated the pieces from the Manzano Heritage Collection, regarded as one of football’s most significant private archives. Among the highlights: over 60 match-worn jerseys, trophies, photographs and rarities spanning the game’s landmark moments, from Pelé’s 1958 Brazil shirt to Ronaldo memorabilia from the 2002 final, alongside a dedicated New York Cosmos installation.

Nuriev’s design instincts shape the whole experience. A bright green palette nods to the pitch itself, while glowing circular screens echo both a football and a full moon. Metallic display units and football-shaped bean bags round out the scenography, giving the space a tactile, playful edge.

“We believe football is one of the defining cultural forces of our time,” say Josh Murphy and Timothy Hagius, Co-Founders of Home of Football. “Few cultural phenomena have shaped collective identity and connected people across borders, generations and backgrounds in quite the same way.” Ahmadou-Bamba Thiam, Co-Founder of Air Afrique, adds: “Football is the mirror of the world. It is an honour for us to be able to reveal its socio-cultural translations beyond the pitch.”

Alongside the archive sits The Crosby Shop, a retail concept spotlighting Nuriev’s favourite brands — Baccarat, Rizzoli and Obayaty among them — several launching in the US for the first time. The shop also hosts Balira Coffee, a café pop-up fronted by former Real Madrid star and 2014 World Cup winner Sami Khedira, who will make select appearances throughout the run.

From pitch to pop-up, the Home of Football: Home & Away exhibition proves the beautiful game’s story is still being written — one archive, one shopfront, one shared memory at a time.

• Photography is by Pauline Shapiro, courtesy of Crosby Studios.