What FIFA World Cup 2026 can teach us about building great IT teams
As the world watches FIFA 2026 unfold across multiple countries, climates, cultures and time zones, I can't help but see some striking similarities with the world of technology. Because let's be honest. Modern IT projects are no longer local games. Your customer may be in the Netherlands. Your architect in Belgium. Your developer in Portugal. Your cloud platform somewhere across Europe. And AI is changing the rules of the game every single day. Sounds familiar?
The teams that succeed in this new reality won't necessarily be the ones with the biggest budgets or the most famous names. They'll be the ones that can adapt, communicate, learn and work together.
Adaptability is the new superpower
World Cup teams are dealing with different climates, extreme temperatures, travel schedules and unfamiliar environments. Technology teams face their own version of this every day.
New AI tools. New security threats. New customer expectations. New ways of working.
The game keeps changing. The winners are not those who resist change. The winners are those who embrace it.
Training never ends
Nobody becomes a World Cup hero by accident. What we see on match day is the result of thousands of hours of practice, learning and continuous improvement.
Technology is no different.
Behind every successful consultant, architect or developer is a commitment to learning.
A new certification. A new technology. A new challenge. At Luza, we strongly believe that learning is not a phase of your career. It is your career.
Communication beats talent
Many matches are won not because one player is better than the others, but because the team communicates better. The same applies to IT projects. In my experience, projects rarely fail because of technology. They fail because of misunderstandings. Assumptions. Lack of alignment. Poor communication. That's why successful nearshore collaborations are never about geography. They're about people. Creating trust. Creating transparency. Creating one team with one goal.
Nearshore is team sport
The best football teams bring together talent from many different backgrounds and cultures. The best technology teams do the same. Nearshore is not about sending work elsewhere. It is about expanding your team with motivated professionals who bring different experiences, fresh perspectives and specialised expertise. When done correctly, distance disappears. Only results remain.
Heroes don't win championships
Football loves heroes. The striker who scores. The goalkeeper who saves. The captain who lifts the trophy. But every football fan knows the truth. Behind every hero stands an entire team. The same is true in business.
Behind every successful project is a team of analysts, developers, architects, project managers, support engineers and business stakeholders working together. Success is never an individual achievement. It is a collective one.
The Luza Way
At Luza, we don't just build technology teams. We build environments where people can grow, learn, support each other and enjoy what they do. Because happy people communicate better. Happy people learn faster. Happy people stay engaged. Engaged people create exceptional outcomes for customers. As FIFA 2026 reminds us, the greatest victories are never achieved by individuals alone. They're achieved by teams that trust each other, train together and stay focused on a common goal.
The best player may win a match. The best team wins the future.
by Nelson Tavares da Silva, Managing Partner at Luza
