Good timing — there’s a FIFA World Cup 2026 doodle running right now. A couple of options:
Quickest fix — Chrome flag (disables animation only):
- In Chrome’s address bar, go to
chrome://flags/ - Search for NTP Animated Doodles
- Set it to Disabled
- Click Relaunch
This removes the animated doodle from the Chrome homepage while leaving everything else alone.
Remove doodles entirely — change the Google theme: Click your profile picture in the top-right of the Google search bar, select the pen/edit icon, and choose any coloured theme (anything except the default “basic” theme). The doodle disappears.
The Chrome flag approach is probably what you want — it’s targeted at the animation specifically and doesn’t change the look of anything else.