ynet's world cup 2026 Interactive Match Schedule
Client Name
Project Name
Project duration
Roles
Tools
ynet sport
world cup 2026 interactive schedule
3 months
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desktop Research
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Information Architecture
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product Design
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Figma
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Claude Code
An interactive match explorer designed for ynet Sports, helping readers navigate the World Cup schedule through whichever detail they already remember—a date, team, tournament stage, or stadium.
Instead of scanning a long chronological list, users can move across the schedule and immediately reveal the connections that are relevant to them.
THE DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we help users find a specific match through any detail they already remember, without forcing them to search, filter, or understand the tournament structure first?
DISCOVER & RESEARCH
THE CONTEXT
During a major tournament, readers arrive at the sports section with very different questions. Some want to know when their team is playing, while others remember only a date, stadium, or stage of the competition.
The ynet Sports editorial team needed a schedule that could provide quick answers while still presenting the full structure of a complex, multi-stage tournament.
THE PROBLEM
Traditional match schedules are usually organized around one predetermined hierarchy—most often by date. This works when users know exactly what they are looking for, but creates friction when they remember only part of the information.
Finding one match can require scanning long lists, switching between filters, or trying to recall details such as the opponent, group, or exact date. The interface asks the user to adapt to the way the data is organized, rather than adapting to the information already available in the user’s mind.
THE GOALS
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Reduce the time and effort required to locate a match.
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Support multiple, equally valid entry points into the schedule.
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Provide immediate visual feedback without removing the wider tournament context.
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Make a dense dataset feel intuitive, responsive, and engaging.
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Serve both focused searches and open-ended exploration.
VISUAL RESEARCH
Sports schedules often behave like static lists, even though the information they contain is highly interconnected. Every match belongs simultaneously to a date, team, tournament stage, and stadium. I explored interaction patterns from tournament brackets, game interfaces, data tables, and cross-reference systems. These references suggested a different model: instead of asking the user to submit a search query, the interface could respond directly to their movement across the data. This shifted the product from a conventional schedule into an explorable information system.
FIFA official world cup 2026 website
MARCA's Qatar world cup games board
UX/UI DESIGN
MULTIPLE ENTRY POINTS
Each major data dimension became an entry point into the experience:
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Date
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Team
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Tournament stage
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Stadium
Users do not need to begin from the “correct” category or remember the complete details of a match. They can start with whichever piece of information comes to mind first, and the interface reveals the relevant relationships across the schedule.
RECOGNITION OVER RECALL
The interaction was designed around recognition rather than recall. Instead of asking users to formulate a query or retrieve several details from memory, the complete set of options remains visible and discoverable.
A user who remembers only a team can identify its matches. A user interested in a specific date can immediately understand what is happening that day. The same system also supports exploration by stage or location.
THE INTERACTION MODEL
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Hovering over a date, team, tournament stage, or stadium immediately highlights the matches connected to that selection.
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Unrelated information recedes while the relevant path remains visible, allowing users to understand the relationship between several data points without leaving the screen or losing their place.
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The response is immediate and reversible: moving between different elements continuously reshapes the information around the user’s current interest.
A PLAYFUL DATA EXPERIENCE
The visual behavior draws from game interfaces and interactive scoreboards: movement produces an immediate response, connected elements become active, and the user discovers information by exploring the system. This makes the experience feel lighter and more engaging without compromising the clarity of the data.
Outcome
The final product transformed a dense World Cup schedule into an interactive system that could be approached from several directions.
Instead of requiring users to understand how the information was categorized, the interface responded to the fragment of information they already had. The same product could therefore support a quick, goal-oriented question as well as broader exploration of the tournament.
For me, the project was an exercise in turning complex information architecture into simple interaction: keeping the richness of the dataset while reducing the effort required to navigate it.