Argentina may have lost to Spain at the FIFA World Cup 2026 final, but one of its players still stole the spotlight throughout the tournament: Lionel Messi.
Michelob Ultra, the official beer sponsor of the tournament, celebrated the G.O.A.T.’s legendary 20-year World Cup career in an ad released soon after the final match on July 19.
Created by Wieden+Kennedy New York and directed by W+K’s Zak DeLange, “Tab Closed” is a playful take on a bar tab. But instead of drink orders, the spot tallies Messi’s World Cup accomplishments, from matches won to goals scored to records broken.
In the final shot, Messi is seen walking off the field, as the tagline “Superior is Worth Playing For” appears at the end of the receipt.
Michelob Ultra ran the creative on its digital and social channels and on Telemundo following the post-game show, as well as on billboards in Times Square, New York, which depicted Messi with the tab of his accolades.
The AB InBev brand also commissioned an artist named Andaluz to paint a mural of Messi in the Little Argentina area in Queens, New York.
“Messi’s World Cup career is almost impossible to sum up, which is exactly what made the idea so exciting. We took something as ordinary as closing out a bar tab and used it to itemize 20 years of extraordinary moments: goals, records, trophies, memories, and everything he’s meant to the game. The simplicity of the idea allowed the scale of his legacy to speak for itself,” W+K New York copywriter Borja Eizmendi and art director Randy Diaz said in a statement.
