With the FIFA World Cup fast approaching, adidas has officially entered tournament season the best way it knows how: with a cinematic football campaign packed with global stars.
Titled Backyard Legends, the five-minute short film feels less like a commercial and more like a full-scale sports movie trailer. Leading the production is Timothée Chalamet, whose long-documented love of football makes him an unexpectedly fitting narrator for the story.
The plot centers around an unbeaten local team defending its turf undefeated since 1996 while a new generation of adidas athletes attempts to challenge their legacy.
At the forefront are Trinity Rodman, Jude Bellingham and Lamine Yamal, forming a trio that represents the future of the sport across both the men’s and women’s game.
The film also taps into football nostalgia with references to legendary adidas icons including David Beckham, Alessandro Del Piero and Zinedine Zidane, bridging generations of football culture within a single storyline.
And just when the cast already feels impossibly stacked, adidas raises the stakes again. Bad Bunny and Lionel Messi both make appearances, pushing the campaign fully into blockbuster territory.
The result captures exactly what World Cup buildup is supposed to feel like: dramatic, nostalgic, chaotic and globally shared.
