Adidas' new ad for the 2026 World Cup isn't your typical commercial; it's a five-minute short film that blends street football, cinema, and pop culture into a single story. The German brand is taking an almost cinematic approach, closer to a short film than the classic thirty-second spot, to place the tournament, which will be held in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, at the center of the global conversation.
Under the title "Backyard Legends | The Greatest Football Story Ever Told ," the campaign uses neighborhood football as a starting point to talk about confidence, free play, and a passion for the game. The result is a high-budget production, packed with current stars, historical legends, and nods designed for both those discovering the World Cup for the first time and those who grew up playing on pitches between apartment blocks.
A street football story with a cinematic feel
At the heart of the story is Timothée Chalamet , the French-American actor, who serves as the narrator and impromptu recruiter. His character becomes obsessed with a trio of street footballers— Clive, Ruthie, and Isaak —described as "the Invincibles," a local gang that hasn't lost since the late 90s on a concrete pitch squeezed between buildings.
The short film opens with a conversation between Chalamet and Bad Bunny in a car, in which they joke about the age-old debate of what to call soccer in the United States. From this exchange comes one of the ad's most repeated lines: "What do I know about soccer? Nothing. I know about football, Benito, football." This lighthearted tone sets the style for a piece that blends humor, nostalgia, and spectacle.
As the story unfolds, the actor recounts how these three young men have withstood all their rivals for decades. The trio's introduction is deliberately exaggerated: they are described as urban myths , almost impossible legends, with a voiceover reinforcing the idea with another ironic jab: "Based on a true story. Probably."
Chalamet's mission is clear: to build a team capable of dethroning the invincibles . To achieve this, he embarks on a kind of express transfer tour, hopping from city to city to convince some of the most recognizable figures in football today, in a journey that blends reality and fiction with the aesthetics of a football road movie.
A dream team: Messi, Lamine Yamal, Bellingham and Trinity Rodman
The squad Adidas has assembled for this story is worthy of a video game. Chalamet recruits Lamine Yamal , Jude Bellingham , and Trinity Rodman as the core of his team, combining young European and American talent. Each player is linked to their own background and understanding of the game, reinforcing the idea that elite football still draws from the grassroots.
Yamal, who mentions Rocafonda Park in Mataró in the advertisement , emphasizes that his playing style stems from where he grew up and the people he was raised with. "It doesn't matter if it's a giant stadium or Rocafonda Park, I simply play with joy and personality," he states in a press release accompanying the commercial. His presence connects the campaign with the new generation of footballers who have gone from neighborhood pitches to the biggest stages without abandoning their style.
Bellingham, a Real Madrid star, brings that profile of a global superstar on the rise , while Trinity Rodman—forward for the Washington Spirit and Olympic champion with the US women's national team—reinforces the campaign's gender dimension. Her participation is not a simple cameo: she's part of the main team and helps to emphasize that the story encompasses both men's and women's soccer.
Alongside them appear other top names: Ousmane Dembélé , Raphinha , Pedri , Florian Wirtz , and Mexican striker Santiago Giménez . Each one adds a distinct nuance to the narrative and expands the geographical scope of the advertisement, which weaves a network of accents, styles, and origins that reflects the global nature of the World Cup.
Messi, Bad Bunny and the legends who never left
While the cast of current stars is already remarkable, the symbolic weight of the ad rests heavily on the legends of recent football . The spot includes a digitally recreated flashback in which Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, and Alessandro Del Piero revert to their early 2000s appearances to try and end the streetwise trio's winning streak. The attempt ends in failure, and a roulette wheel featuring Zidane is narrated as the moment that "killed" the protagonist telling the story.
The use of CGI technology and artificial intelligence allows Adidas to play on the collective memory of those who grew up watching these footballers in their prime. The piece successfully brings together different eras of football: the golden age of Zidane and Beckham, the contemporary dominance of Messi, and the emergence of young talents like Yamal and Bellingham.
In the final segment, the camera focuses on Lionel Messi and Bad Bunny , who appear as a sort of supervisor of the team recruited by Chalamet. The Argentine embodies absolute football leadership, while the Puerto Rican artist anchors the piece in the world of urban music and global pop culture. Their joint appearance is no coincidence: they had already collaborated on previous campaigns for the brand, but this is the first time they have done so in a project directly linked to a World Cup.
The ad isn't just about showcasing celebrities; it aims to demonstrate how football intersects with other cultural languages . The conversation between Messi and Bad Bunny about the "invincibles," the players' comments, and the way the street pitch is presented all reinforce the idea that the sport is a shared story encompassing film, music, and social media.
Nineties aesthetic, neighborhood vibes and a European accent
One of the most striking aspects of "Backyard Legends" is its 90s-inspired aesthetic . The short film blends analog technology, period hairstyles, retro clothing, and a nostalgic soundtrack reminiscent of home movies and endless afternoons spent outdoors. All of this contrasts with the advanced use of digital effects, creating a hybrid of past and present.
The main location for the advertisement is the Pista Verde (Green Court) in the Llefià neighborhood of Badalona , ​​a court situated between apartment blocks in a working-class area on the outskirts of Barcelona. Its distinctive colored surface has made it a meeting point for local kids for years, and now it's being showcased globally as a key location for the campaign.
The choice doesn't seem accidental. Adidas is trying to celebrate authentic, grassroots football , the kind many associate with their childhood and which has also become common content on TikTok and Instagram. Instead of recreating a generic pitch in a studio, the brand uses a real space in the Barcelona metropolitan area, thus connecting the story to the European context and, in particular, to the football played in urban peripheries.
The reference is even more significant considering that both Messi and Lamine Yamal began their careers in similar environments, far from the big stadiums. The ad uses expressions that are very recognizable to anyone who has played in the streets, such as "street rules" or the classic "goalkeeper-striker," formulas that serve as emotional anchors for different generations of fans.
From teaser to global campaign for the 2026 World Cup
Before the full release of the short film, Adidas had already built anticipation with a teaser titled "A Legend Is Born ." This preview introduced "The Invincibles" for the first time and showcased Messi's collaboration with Bad Bunny, as well as appearances by Lamine Yamal, Bellingham, Ousmane Dembélé, Pedri, and Trinity Rodman.
The tone of the teaser already hinted at what was to come: an advertisement filmed like a short film, with meticulously crafted frames and a more deliberate pace than traditional advertising. This strategy allowed the brand to generate pre-production buzz on social media, where snippets of dialogue and specific shots were shared as if they were scenes from a TV series.
"Backyard Legends" is part of the "You Got This" platform , launched by Adidas a couple of years ago, which revolves around the idea of ​​self-confidence and freedom while playing. In this installment, the message reiterates that a true winning mentality isn't about titles or statistics, but about daring to play without fear of making mistakes.
As the centerpiece of the brand's World Cup sponsorship, the short film is complemented by activations during broadcasts, specific content on social media, and in-stadium displays . The campaign is designed to extend beyond television: adapted clips for digital platforms, vertical clips for mobile devices, and additional material that expands on the story of the invincible trio and the team recruited by Chalamet.
Adidas plays a leading role in the tournament
Beyond the impact of the advertisement, the campaign highlights Adidas's position as a key player in the 2026 World Cup . The brand will be the official match ball supplier and will provide kits for a large number of national teams, including Spain, Argentina, Mexico, and Germany , as well as other European and Latin American federations.
According to preliminary data from specialized media outlets, sponsorship investment for the tournament is estimated to range from $150 million to $200 million . This figure covers broadcasting costs, social media activations, activities at official venues, and the deployment of brand experiences in the host cities.
The company's stated goal is to be "present on the world's biggest pitches and in every backyard in between ." This formula encapsulates Adidas's commitment to maintaining one foot in elite professional football and the other in the informal, neighborhood game—a duality that the advertisement translates visually by mixing superstars with anonymous kids on a pitch in Badalona.
The prominent presence of European national teams outfitted by the brand, along with the prominence of stars like Yamal, Bellingham, Pedri, and Wirtz, strengthens the campaign's connection with the continent's audience. The World Cup will be held outside of Europe, but the symbolic and sporting weight of the European teams remains one of the tournament's major drivers of interest.
Football, excitement and pop culture in the lead-up to the World Cup
In a context where the World Cup has become a global event that transcends sport , Adidas uses "Backyard Legends" to position itself not only as a sponsor, but also as a narrator of a shared story. The short film revisits ideas the brand had already explored in previous campaigns: the World Cup as a global family gathering, as a symbolic battle, as a creative game, and as a space where generations, countries, and accents mix.
The difference compared to previous years lies in the sophistication of the format and the intensity of its intersection with contemporary pop culture. The combination of Messi, Yamal, Bellingham, and Rodman with entertainment figures like Bad Bunny and Chalamet aims to connect with an audience that consumes football, film, TV series, and urban music all from the same device.
Drawing on real-world settings like the Llefià Green Track and shared memories—from casual games with a "goalkeeper-striker" to viral street football videos—the piece attempts to balance spectacle with relatability. The campaign's core message, as explained by Florian Alt, Vice President of Global Brand Communications at Adidas , is that the freedom to play without pressure and self-confidence remain fundamental, for both professionals and amateurs.
With "Backyard Legends", Adidas signs one of its most ambitious bets for the 2026 World Cup: an advertisement that serves as a presentation letter for the tournament, vindicates neighborhood football as the cradle of legends and places the brand at the center of the cultural narrative that will accompany the next World Cup, from the stands of North American stadiums to the courts and parks of European cities like Badalona, ​​Mataró or any other neighborhood where they still play for the simple pleasure of doing so.