Adidas released its official World Cup 2026 campaign film “Backyard Legends“ today to build up to the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The five-minute ad is built around a street football backdrop and brings together past and present football legends alongside famous faces from the music and film industries. The ad leans super heavily on nostalgia and shows that the most talented individuals can come from small, low-key games, not from some big league stadium.
Timothee Chalamet’s at the heart of the story and plays a passionate amateur manager who’s trying to guide a group of young street kids called “The Invincibles” as they take on Adidas’ dream team of superstar pros.
Early reports suggest this campaign, a few hours after its release, is already a commercial hit, with Adidas seeing some pretty amazing sales figures linked to World Cup products one month before the tournament kicked off.
Generational Talents Brought Together for World Cup Ad
The cast brings together a lot of big names from different eras of football.
Icons David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Alessandro Del Piero appear alongside current players such as Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Ousmane Dembélé, and Trinity Rodman.
Grammy-award-winning and 2026 Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny also features in the film, giving a crossover between football and music culture.
Some scenes even revisit classic versions of former stars, giving the campaign a throwback feel while keeping it tied to the present game.
The film is called 'A Legend Is Born' and it’s the story of three complete unknown street players who take on a bunch of all-stars from Adidas in a pure neighborhood-style match.
The message is not complicated. Football starts in the smallest spaces, and the biggest stars you know and love often come from exactly the same sort of humble beginnings.
Adidas has come up with a new slogan to bring home this idea 'You Got This' and it’s all about that confidence, that feeling of confidence and belief in taking on whatever comes your way, even in the most everyday of football moments.
The campaign also show 'Trionda,' the official match ball for the 2026 World Cup, designed with details inspired by the three host countries.
