During the World Cup, most picture editors are not at the stadium. They are at a newsroom in London, Paris, New York or São Paulo, watching a live feed on one screen and waiting for photos on the other. The photographer is on the pitch in Dallas or Monterrey. Between them: an FTP server and a workflow that either works or costs them the best shot of the match.

FTPull is a Mac menu bar app that watches an FTP or SFTP server and downloads every new file automatically to a local folder. For remote editors covering 104 World Cup matches across 16 stadiums, it removes the single most disruptive part of the job: manually refreshing an FTP client to check if files have arrived.

How FTPull handles the incoming stream

FTPull polls your FTP server at a configurable interval (every few seconds by default). When it finds a new file that was not there on the previous check, it downloads it immediately to a local folder on your Mac. The file appears in the folder as if it had been there all along, ready for Lightroom, Capture One or whatever editing software you use.

Photographer exports from the stadium
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File appears on the FTP server
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FTPull detects it on next poll (seconds)
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File downloads to your Mac automatically
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You edit and publish without manual steps

FTPull also handles the edge cases: it waits for a file to finish uploading before starting the download (stability check), supports multiple simultaneous server connections, and runs entirely in the background with no open windows to manage.

Setting up FTPull for World Cup coverage

  1. Download FTPull or FTPSuite. FTPull is available standalone at ftpsuite.com/pull/, or as part of the FTPSuite bundle (which also includes FTPush, useful if your team has photographers and editors on the same licence).
  2. Open Settings and add a new server connection. Click the FTPull menu bar icon, go to Settings, Connections. Add your agency's FTP server or the shared server your photographer uploads to.
  3. Configure the connection. Enter the host, port, protocol (SFTP is recommended), username and password. Set the remote folder to watch: typically the folder your photographer uploads to. Set the local download folder to wherever you want files to land on your Mac.
  4. Set the polling interval. The default is a few seconds, which works well for live event coverage. For World Cup, keep it at the minimum your server allows. The difference between a 3-second and 30-second interval is significant when you are racing the wire.
  5. Enable stability checking. FTPull waits for the file to stop growing before downloading it. This prevents downloading half-transferred files: critical for large JPEGs from professional cameras.
  6. Set up file filters if needed. If the server contains mixed content, use extension filters to download only JPEGs or TIFFs. You can also filter by folder or filename pattern.
  7. Enable the connection. Toggle it on. FTPull starts polling immediately. Test by having the photographer drop a file on the server and confirming it arrives on your Mac within seconds.

Managing multiple photographers across stadiums

The World Cup Team plan covers 5 Macs. If your newsroom has multiple remote editors, each can run FTPull with connections to different photographer feeds. A common setup:

Each FTPull instance can have multiple server connections active simultaneously. One Mac can watch several photographers at once, with each connection downloading to a different local subfolder.

Integrating with your editing software

Lightroom Classic

Set the FTPull download folder as a watched folder in Lightroom's Auto Import feature (File, Auto Import, Enable Auto Import). Every file FTPull downloads appears instantly in Lightroom, ready to cull and edit. No manual import step.

Capture One

Create a session or catalog with the import folder set to the FTPull download location. Use Hot Folder in Capture One to auto-import incoming files. Files appear in your session the moment FTPull finishes downloading them.

Photo Mechanic

Photo Mechanic's Ingest feature can monitor a folder and apply metadata templates automatically. Set the ingest source to your FTPull download folder. Incoming World Cup photos get captioned and rated before you even open them.

Tip for time-critical coverage: set your editing software to sort by date modified (newest first). When FTPull downloads a goal shot, it jumps to the top of your view automatically, without you scrolling.

Covering matches across time zones

The World Cup spans three countries with multiple time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific in the USA, plus Mexico City and Vancouver/Toronto times. Some matches kick off at times that are inconvenient for European newsrooms.

FTPull runs unattended. You can leave it running overnight or during off-hours and come back to a full folder of already-downloaded photos. The connection stays active as long as your Mac is awake. For overnight matches, enable macOS's Schedule option (System Settings, Battery) to keep the Mac awake at match time.

Working with agency feeds: AFP, Getty, Reuters

Major wire agencies provide SFTP credentials to subscribing newsrooms for direct photo delivery. FTPull works with any standard FTP, SFTP or FTPS server. If your agency provides an SFTP ingest address, FTPull connects to it directly.

Some agencies use FTP pull delivery models (they push to your server, you pull from it). FTPull handles both: it can watch a server where your agency deposits files, and download them as they arrive.

Note on credentials: agency FTP credentials are often match-specific or tournament-specific. Confirm with your photo desk before the tournament that credentials are active and test the connection at least a week before the first match.

Editor's match day checklist

Before kick-off:

During the match:

The complete FTPSuite team setup

For full tournament coverage, FTPSuite gives you both sides of the pipe. Photographers at the stadiums use FTPush to upload automatically. Editors at the newsroom use FTPull to receive automatically. The FTPSuite Team plan (5 Macs) covers a full editorial team for a single annual price.

Use code WORLDCUP26 at checkout for 30% off all plans. Valid until June 11, 2026.