Photojournalist Fareed Kotb used a 96-year-old Zeiss Ikon camera to capture the 2026 FIFA World Cup, bridging the gap between early photography and modern sports coverage.
Key facts
- •Fareed Kotb has covered previous World Cups in 2018 and 2022, as well as the Olympic Games.
- •The Zeiss Ikon Ideal 250/11 camera was manufactured in 1930, the same year as the first FIFA World Cup.
- •Kotb spent one year searching for a functional 1930 camera before modifying it to accept negative film.
- •The process for a single photograph took about one minute, requiring the photographer to wait for action to enter a pre-selected field position.
- •Project 1930 was intended to explore the essential elements of photography beyond digital technological advancements.
Egyptian photojournalist Fareed Kotb documented the 2026 FIFA World Cup using a 1930 Zeiss Ikon Ideal 250/11 folding camera. Known as Project 1930, the initiative aimed to connect the inaugural World Cup held in Uruguay with the current tournament co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico. Kotb, who has worked for the Confederation of African Football since 2019, spent a year sourcing and researching the antique equipment before adapting it to use negative film instead of its original glass plates.
By the numbers
Technical Challenges and Methodology
Operating the vintage camera required a deliberate, slow process that contrasted sharply with modern digital equipment. Each photograph took approximately one minute to capture, as Kotb had to manually compose the frame, use a black focusing cloth, and switch the camera from viewing to shooting mode. Because the camera could not track fast-moving action, Kotb had to anticipate play by selecting specific areas of the pitch, such as corner kicks or goal-front attacks, and waiting for the action to enter his frame. After each match, the exposed negatives were sent to specialists for development and subsequently scanned for digital distribution. The project served as an experiment to demonstrate that the quality of a photograph depends on the photographer's vision and patience rather than solely on technological speed.
Reception and Personal Connection
The sight of Kotb working with the large folding camera beneath a black cloth drew significant attention from spectators, officials, and fellow media members at stadiums throughout the month-long tournament. Kotb noted that he developed a strong personal attachment to the device, describing it as a companion that had been shut away for decades. He utilized the camera at matches including Portugal-Croatia in Canada and Colombia-Switzerland. For Kotb, the experience provided a sense of being transported to another era, allowing him to observe the modern, high-tech environment of the 2026 tournament through the lens of a device manufactured during the year of the first World Cup.
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This article was independently rewritten by ManyPress editorial AI from reporting originally published by Anadolu Agency Sport.
