Official portraits are designed to identify players and coaches, but the strongest images often reveal something less controlled. Bielsa’s reluctance has given the photograph an authenticity that a polished studio pose might have missed.
Other portraits took a more playful route:
The variety is striking, particularly because every squad moved through broadly the same carefully organised process.
The portrait programme involved 1,248 players and 48 managers, with two photographers assigned to each team. The setup was deliberately simple: a large studio strobe, a softbox and two rim lights, alongside muted backdrops and occasional lens filters that created blur and kaleidoscopic effects.
Photographer Tom Jenkins described the central difficulty plainly: “the challenge in shoots like these is the speed of the operation”. Each player had only a few minutes, with the team seeking both a formal image and something more individual.
“The aim,” Jenkins explained, is to capture “both the plain portrait required for official use and a second image with more personality.”
Players are increasingly comfortable in front of a lens thanks to commercial campaigns and social media. Many arrive with a clear sense of how they want to appear and check the results before leaving the set.
That awareness does not guarantee universal approval. Declan Rice, Anthony Gordon and Dean Henderson all prompted online reactions to their England portraits, proving that a simple headshot can become part of the tournament conversation.
As the World Cup moves closer, the next question is which images will endure. Bielsa’s downward gaze has already secured its place in the album.