NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 4, 2026--
The Empire State Building Observation Deck (ESB) – the #1 Attraction in the United States – today announced further 2026 programming for soccer fans in New York City with the world’s most iconic jersey collection from the Classic Football Shirts (CFS) vault, a limited-edition ESB x CFS jersey, official merch giveaways, and special lightings.
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“As the world descends upon New York City for this anticipated global soccer event, fans can visit the Empire State Building Observation Deck for Manhattan’s best skyline views and a one-of-a-kind soccer exhibit,” said Dan Rogoski, observatory general manager. “International and American soccer fans can extend the celebration off the pitch at the #1 Attraction in the United States.”
The Empire State Building’s world-famous Observation Deck Experience was voted the #1 top attraction in the U.S. in Tripadvisor’s 2026 Travelers’ Choice Awards: Best of the Best Things to Do and underwent a $165 million reimagination that added a new interactive museum with nine galleries, bespoke host uniforms, and an upgraded 102 nd Floor Observation Deck with unmatched views from the heart of New York City.
Hi-res imagery can be found here.
More information about the Empire State Building can be found online.
About the Empire State Building
The Empire State Building, the "World's Most Famous Building," owned by Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. (ESRT: NYSE), soars 1,454 feet above Midtown Manhattan from base to antenna. The $165 million reimagination of the Empire State Building Observation Deck Experience created an all-new experience with a dedicated guest entrance, an interactive museum with nine galleries, and a redesigned 102nd Floor Observation Deck with floor-to-ceiling windows. The journey to the world-famous 86th Floor Observation Deck, the only 360-degree, open-air observatory with views of New York and beyond, orients visitors for their entire New York City experience and covers everything from the building's iconic history to its current place in pop culture. The Empire State Building Observation Deck Experience welcomes millions of visitors each year and is ranked the #1 Top Attraction in the United States in Tripadvisor's 2026 Travelers' Choice Awards: Best of the Best Things to Do, "America's Favorite Building" by the American Institute of Architects, the world's most popular travel destination by Uber, and the #1 New York City attraction in Lonely Planet's Ultimate Travel List. Since 2011, the building has been fully powered by renewable wind electricity, and its many floors house a diverse array of office tenants such as LinkedIn and Shutterstock, as well as retail options like STATE Grill and Bar, Tacombi, Ghirardelli, and Starbucks. For more information and Empire State Building Observation Deck Experience tickets visit esbnyc.com or follow the building's Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Weibo, YouTube, or TikTok.
About Classic Football Shirts
Classic Football Shirts is the global destination for soccer jerseys, offering the largest collection of authentic jerseys in the world. Founded in 2006 in Manchester, UK, the company has grown into a global business that ships millions of items to customers in more than 130 countries.
Source: Empire State Realty Trust, Inc.
Category: Empire State Building
Empire State Building Observation Deck Celebrates Soccer with World’s Most Iconic Soccer Jersey Exhibit, Custom ESB Jerseys, Player Visits, Lightings, and More
PARIS (AP) — Acclaimed Iranian French cartoonist and filmmaker Marjane Satrapi, a prominent advocate for women's rights and author of “Persepolis,” has died at 56, the French presidency said Thursday.
“Her passing marks the loss of a leading figure of French culture and an artist devoted to freedom, whose work carried a universal message and earned her immense international acclaim,” the French presidency said in a statement.
President Emmanuel Macron and his wife “pay tribute to a remarkable artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable,” the statement said.
News broadcaster BFM TV and other French media reported Satrapi “died of sadness” a little over a year after the death of her husband, Swedish film producer and actor Mattias Ripa, according to a statement from people close to the artist.
The French Academy of Fine Arts, of which she was a member, expressed its deep sadness in a social media statement, paying tribute to “a passionate advocate for cinema and film education” who earlier this year created a foundation to help international students come to Paris to study film.
Satrapi is best known for her monochrome autobiographical comic book and film “Persepolis,” a coming-of-age tale set against the Islamic Revolution in her native Iran.
“Persepolis” won the Film Critics Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007 and the César award for best adapted screenplay in 2008, in addition to being nominated for best animated feature at the 2008 Oscars.
The film, which details her life in Tehran as the willful daughter of intellectual Marxists, is a reminder that Iranians are just like everyone else, Satrapi told The Associated Press in a 2007 interview in Cannes.
“What we wanted to say is, if these people scare you, look closer: They have parents, they have lovers, they have hope, they have stories," she said.
Iranian authorities at the time protested the movie’s inclusion at Cannes, sending a letter to the French Embassy in Tehran.
Satrapi was born on Nov. 22, 1969, in Rasht, Iran, but her parents sent her to Vienna in 1983 to finish her studies because of the extremism in their country following the 1979 Revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeini to power.
But Satrapi, who found Austria hostile and who desperately missed her parents, returned to Iran in 1989 to attend Tehran University, where she earned a degree in visual communications.
By the time she graduated, Satrapi decided she finally was ready to leave Iran and accept the opportunities her parents had been so desperate to give her a decade before. In 1994, she moved to France. She studied in Strasbourg and later moved to Paris.
Her graphic novels also include “Broderies” (“Embroideries”) and “Poulet aux prunes” (“Chicken with plums”), which also was adapted into a film. As a filmmaker, she has directed several works including “La Bande des Jotas” (“The Gang of Jotas”) and “Radioactive” (“Madame Curie”), a biography about the Polish physicist Marie Curie.
Satrapi in 2023 coordinated the book “Femme, vie, liberté” (“Woman, Life, Freedom”) together with a group of artists and academics to illustrate the revolts that occurred in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” The work denounces the repression and lack of human rights that Iranian society, especially women, suffers at the hands of the Iranian regime, the foundation said.
Satrapi was elected member of the French Academy of Fine Arts in 2024. She also was offered France's highest award, the Legion of Honor, that same year but declined it, arguing France was not doing enough to support Iranian people fighting for democracy.
“Supporting the women’s revolution in Iran cannot be reduced to photos or speeches,” she wrote in a January 2025 letter to French authorities. “When people are fighting for democracy, we should support them.”
In 2024, Satrapi won the Princess of Asturias Foundation award in Spain for communication and humanities. The organization said she was “an essential voice in the defense of human rights and freedom.” The judges described her as “a symbol of civic engagement led by women."
Satrapi's husband died in April 2025 at 53. On her Instagram page, only one message was left in a series of posts: “Because I have lost the love of my life.”
FILE - Iranian born director Marjane Satrapi, center, French actress Catherine Deneuve, right, and Deneuve's daughter Chiara Mastroianni arrive for the screening of the film "Persepolis," at the 60th International film festival in Cannes, southern France, on Wednesday, May 23, 2007. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
FILE - Directors Marjane Satrapi, right, and Vincent Paronnaud pose following the awards ceremony at the 60th International film festival in Cannes, southern France, on Sunday, May 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
FILE - Director, illustrator and author Marjane Satrapi poses for photographers as she arrives to present the movie "La Bande des Jotas" at the 7th edition of the Rome International Film Festival in Rome, on Nov. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
