With the World Cup right around the corner, Adidas has just launched its new campaign, and it sent Timothée Chalamet straight into someone’s backyard. Technically Pier 40 in Manhattan, but “backyard” sounds better in the story they’re telling. Which makes sense if you’ve been keeping up with the Instagram hints about his “socc-football” dreams finally coming true, now unfolding inside a five-minute cinematic short film steeped in 90s nostalgia.
“I used to dream of playing with these guys — you know, I was playing at Pier 40 as a kid, thinking about Beckham’s free kicks, Del Piero’s goals, and Zidane’s volleys — doing my own versions,” Chalamet said in a press release. Fast forward a few awards and Oscar nominations later, and he gets to revisit that fantasy, this time with everyone on board.
And when Adidas says “everyone,” they mean it. Beyond the already mythical trio, the brand pulls in a full roster of football ambassadors, active and retired. Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal, Jude Bellingham, Trinity Rodman, Ousmane Dembélé, Raphinha, Pedri, Florian Wirtz, plus a Bad Bunny cameo for good measure. The frames feel like those overstuffed FIFA sticker album pages, the kind that lived inside school desks and traded hands in silence.
“Backyard Legends” follows Chalamet building a team for a backyard match against an undefeated local side. Strip it down and it’s grainy memory and feel-good visuals that hold everything together. In between, you get classic tanks and jerseys, collars peeking through, black-and-white stripes, looser-than-usual shorts, retro sneaker silhouettes, the occasional mohawk, and concrete that definitely wasn’t built with knees in mind. And of course, that one ball you had to lob in the air, if you didn’t want it stuck in a tree.
