As attention to their country fades, Syrians continue to resort to events that make international headlines to try to bring much needed visibility to their plight. These days, with the spotlight on the 2014 World Cup, “War Cup” is a slogan used to raise awareness about the emergency situation faced by Syrians.

Like large segments of the population worldwide, Syrians enjoy sports competitions, and football in particular. The excitement of this year's international contest, however, is obscured by the fact that the population continues to face daily shelling by the regime, threats from extremist groups like ISIS, and the indifference of the “international community”. This scenario was reflected in many of the latest Syrian artistic and creative productions.

Many Syrian artists have combined elements of the international sports competition with those of the Syrian war. “It is happening now”, by Mohammad Saudi, shows a striking hybrid between a rocket and the World Cup trophy.

Mohammad Diab's “Mundial 2014” features another hybrid, this one between a trophy and a pacifier on a dark, gloomy background. A powerful representation of the loss of childhood in Syria.

“Ball from Homs Alleys”, by renowned Syrian-Palestinian artist Wissam al-Jazairy, highlights a bloodstained ball shattered by bullets. “The World Cup and the death of humanity” is the title of Wajdi Saleh's painting, which shows the trophy inside a trash can. 

Khaled Malek's “Syrian game” presents a soccer field in which a corpse wrapped in a white sheet takes the place of a football.

References to the 2014 World Cup were not only present in the work of Syrian artists and graphic designers. Bloggers and social media users have shared comments rife with dark humor, such as “ISIS has taken the World Cup from me”, associated to a tearful image of Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo. Some even made predictions about the advance of the extremist group:

“ISIS is close to Aleppo now. Which countries will be playing the moment it takes over Aleppo?”