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?

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

Source: sports.yahoo.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.