Shooting and scoring: Photographer Alex Pantling on capturing the world’s greatest footballers

What does it take to photograph the greatest footballers on the planet, in action, on the world's biggest stage?

Visit newssport.cv for more information.

Getty photographer Alex Pantling has spent more than a decade capturing sport’s biggest moments, from FIFA World Cupsand Champions League nights to Formula 1 and the Olympic Games. Along the way, he has photographed some of the most recognisable athletes in the world, including F1 racing driver Max Verstappen, footballers, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, and 19-year-old superstar Lamine Yamal.

This summer’s World Cup gave him some of his most striking football images yet. As he told Euronews Culture, capturing those moments is less about luck than preparation meeting instinct: "You can plan, you can have ideas in your head, but you've got to react when those ideas change in the moment."

After this summer's unforgettable World Cup, we caught up with Pantling to discuss his path into photography, the challenges of working at the highest level of sport, and the stories behind some of his favourite images from the 2026 tournament.

Could you tell me briefly how you got into photography, and the path that led you to sports photography?

Alex Panning: I always knew I wanted to be involved in sport. Originally it was kind of a fluke, to be honest. At school I actually wanted to do architecture, but the way subjects were bracketed meant I couldn't do architecture and the sport-related subject I wanted at the same time. I also found out architecture was a seven-year course at university, which put me off a little.

Someone suggested photography, so I thought, I'll give that a go - which I know isn't the romantic story you're hoping for. But I gave it a go and absolutely loved it. Then I realised there was a job that combined my two passions: sport and photography.

So I pushed that further and went to university at Nottingham Trent. At the start of the course I wasn't really photographing sport yet - it was predominantly an art photography course, so I was doing still life, street photography, portraiture, that kind of thing.

In my second year, I had a tutor from Italy who'd been at Nottingham Trent in the same year as a colleague of mine, Julian Finney. She put me in touch with Julian, which led to work experience at Getty with another photographer, Michael Regan - one of our best football photographers. And from there, it led into a job with Getty.

How much of your work is careful planning, and how much is reacting in the moment?

You plan everything, but reacting is more important, because what you plan never actually happens - let's be honest. You might get to a game thinking you want to sit in a certain spot because of the light, or because you want to photograph a particular team attacking your side in the first half. Then the captains do the coin toss, they swap ends, or the rain comes - there are so many variables that change in football.

I think that's why I love it. You never work the same day twice as a football photographer, because no game is the same. I might shoot Chelsea versus Tottenham again this year, but it won't be the same as last year or the year before. You can plan, you can have ideas in your head, but you've got to react when those ideas change in the moment.

Kansas City Stadium pictured during the World Cup - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

What changes when you're photographing a World Cup game versus a normal Premier League match?

It does feel very different. The Premier League is amazing - I might be a little biased being English, but I think it's the greatest football league in the world, and it's incredible that we get access to it weekly working in the UK. But when you get to FIFA, it's something really special.

It's not just the Argentinas, the Englands, the Frances - I was lucky enough to being doing Curaçao, smaller countries like this, which were almost as enjoyable because of how much it meant to them to be there, and to their fans. And I love that aspect. So yeah, in terms of how it changes: you're still doing the same job, but the emotion and the felling behind the pictures and games is completely different.

Do you still feel nervous before these big games? You're there to capture huge moments and big players - is there a sense of pressure?

Yeah, 100%. Take Messi, for example - I'm sure we'll come to that. You know he'll arguably be one of the greatest footballers to have ever lived, and in ten, twenty, thirty, forty years, people will look back on pictures of him playing. You've got the opportunity to take the pictures people are going to look at. I find that really exciting.

In terms of nerves - yes, they're always there. Getting the goal picture, the celebration, being in the right place. But it does get easier with time. I was lucky enough to shoot the final of the Qatar World Cup, arguably one of the greatest football matches ever. I was up in the stands, and I remember Messi scoring his first goal - the penalty - on my side of the pitch, and my hands were literally shaking, I was so nervous about missing the shot. I think that was because it was my first World Cup, and there was a lot of pressure on me to do a good job so I could hopefully cover more of these. I don't have that same nervousness now, though there are still elements of it.

David Alaba of Austria pictured in the player's tunnel at the 2026 World Cup - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

So, let's take a closer look at some of your images you took from this year's World Cup. Your portrait of Austria's David Alaba in the tunnel is a very cinematic image - most of the frame is actually in darkness. What was the intention behind it?

We get such great access from FIFA at these events. We're allowed in the tunnel before the game as the players walk out, and that always makes for iconic pictures - the two teams lined up, the referees, the ball kids, the players locked in, wearing their tracksuits. Those pictures are a little busier, there's a lot going on, and that's good in its own way for documenting the moment.

But what I try to do - and I think a lot of my colleagues do too - is use the tunnel at half-time as an opportunity, rather than just before the game. This stadium, Kansas City Stadium, was probably my favourite to work in. The tunnel the players came out of was long and narrow, and at the end, rather than going straight up the stairs, it split: the home team went one way, the away team the other, with a wall in front. At night games, the floodlights cast a shaft of light straight onto the players' faces.

You have to be patient - there were plenty of games where I tried this shot and it didn't quite work out. On this occasion, David Alaba was waiting for some of his teammates to come back from the dressing room, and he took a moment, looking out into the light. It worked out as a really nice picture. I think the colours worked well too - the blue branding against the red kit.

Lionel Messi taking a corner for Argentina at the 2026 World Cup - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Talk us through your image of Lionel Messi taking a corner.

Absolutely. When I first walked into the stadium, the architecture was fascinating - a lot of the American stadiums are, because they're so different from what we have in the UK, mainly due to their scale. What I loved about the Kansas City stadium specifically was that it had no roof, so a lot more light came in during the day, and the floodlights were more prominent. I knew the wider shots would work really well because of how beautiful the stadium was.

When we work for FIFA, we get exclusive access to shoot from behind the bench, right down at pitch level, without an LED board in front of us - unlike the photographers positioned elsewhere, who can't get as low an angle. Going into this game, I knew this was a shot I wanted. A corner isn't the most athletic thing a footballer does, but as a picture, it lets you get close to the player on a wide lens. As he brings his leg back, that's maybe one of the most athletic positions a footballer can be in. I took around 20 frames of him doing it, but the best one is where his leg is fully extended - a really nice body shape, with the lights right above his head.

The low angle makes him look almost heroic in the frame - like the technique directors use in film, shooting from below to give someone a sense of authority. Where you going for the same effect?

Exactly. The low angle makes a big difference. It was actually quite funny - there's not much space to work in down there. You've got the linesman, the player taking the corner. About 20 minutes before this, Argentina won a corner, and as Messi walked over to take it I thought, this is the moment. But another player joined him and they played it short, so I didn't get the shape I was after. Luckily, the second time, he put it into the box himself. But yes - the low angle makes a real difference. If I'd been standing, it wouldn't have had the same impact.

Cristiano Ronaldo leading his team out at the 2026 World Cup. - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

You also captured this striking image of Ronaldo leading Portugal out. What did you see in that scene that made you want to shoot it differently?

Yes - again, I'm grateful to FIFA for the access. As with the Messi picture, we're allowed tunnel access before the games. I walked into this tunnel about ten or fifteen minutes before the teams came out to warm up, knowing Ronaldo would lead the team out as captain - that was the shot I wanted.

But the light in this tunnel wasn't as good as some others, and there were a lot of stewards around, making it a bit messier for pictures. So I stepped outside and thought about what else I could do. I liked the lettering above the tunnel, and there was a sea of Portugal fans nearby, all clearly about to be on their phones trying to photograph Ronaldo - because that's what everyone was there for. I also noticed the photographers had LED boards pushed back, so they had to stay behind a certain line. I thought if I shot from behind that line, framing the photographers with their cameras and the fans with their phones, it would show that all the focus was on him.

Lamine Yamal pictured during Spain's clash against Belgium at the 2026 World Cup. - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

There's a certain poignancy to your image of Lamine Yamal walking alone on the pitch

Yes - I think this was in the Los Angeles Stadium. There's just something about that stadium - I don't think I'd been anywhere quite like it. The architecture is incredible to work in, and the roof is translucent, so you don't get full sun, but you get these shafts of softer light, which can make for really nice pictures.

What's also interesting about this one: I think it was a round-of-16 or quarter-final match, and FIFA had just started using pyrotechnics before kick-off. After the anthems, flares or fireworks went off from inside the stadium, which created a kind of misty effect in the air - you can see that smokiness in the picture, and I think it adds a lot.

This was just after the anthems - the players had come over for a drink or electrolytes, whatever they take pre-match - and Yamal took a moment to himself. It worked out well that no other player was in frame; it almost looks like everyone's there just to watch him.

Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal pictured in the changing room after winning the 2026 World Cup. - Credit: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Spain celebrating with the trophy in the dressing room. What was it like being in the middle of that chaos, and how did you go about finding the picture?

I'll never forget this one. I was on the pitch before the players came back to the dressing room, and it was my job to get in there. We were hoping Spain would let us in, and thankfully they did. I tried to time it so I didn't miss too much of the action on the pitch - players with their families and so on - while still getting back in time.

I waited outside for ten or fifteen minutes until we got the nod from FIFA to let us inside. And it was absolutely amazing - David Raya and lots of others were spraying champagne all over the players, and me to be honest, the state of the camera was not ideal when I got back, but it was brilliant. There were pictures everywhere - players celebrating separately, then together. Nico Williams grabbed me at one point because he wanted to replicate Michael Jordan's famous shower photo with the trophy, so we went and did that. There was a lot going on. It was almost hard to know what to shoot, because every time you took one picture, you felt like you were missing another happening somewhere else - which is a rare situation for a photographer, to be honest.

Read full story at source