104 games, 48 teams and 1,248 players. The soccer stars taking to the pitch will have plenty of opportunities to shine during the World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico this summer. In the meantime, it’s the creative types behind the squad reveal videos who can take a bow.
Over the last two weeks, many of the countries heading to North America have celebrated the 26 men they are sending to the tournament in short films that also celebrate the history, culture and pride of the nations they represent. The very best of them contain Easter eggs and in-jokes that only the most committed fans will be able to spot. Here’s a primer for six of the best.
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France
The French team has played in the last two World Cup finals, winning in 2018 and losing to Argentina in a penalty shootout at Qatar 2022.
Les Bleus’ reveal video featured players in a 90s sitcom, set in the fictional American town of Clear Fountain (pop. 26), a reference to their national academy at Clairefontaine.
Ousmane Dembélé is eating breakfast, Maxence Lacroix is driving in a traffic jam, N’Golo Kanté is chilling in the diner, and Michael Olise, who famously checks the firmness of the turf before every game he plays, is doing the same with the grass at the barbecue.
Kylian Mbappé is working as a cashier at the corner store with what seems to be four Employee of the Month awards behind him on the wall, presumably inspired by his four French Player of the Year awards.
Look closely and you’ll see that the Nike swoosh on their shirts is copper-colored, a nod to the Statue of Liberty, which the French gifted to the Americans to celebrate the declaration of independence, the 250th anniversary of which will be marked during the tournament. Now iconic green, the statue was copper-colored for around 30 years until the metal had oxidized.
There are respectful blink-and-you’ll-miss-them nods to the tournament’s other co-hosts, Mexico and Canada – some flags, maple syrup and a guacamole dip – and the French even found a way to shout out some of their sponsors and partners. Coca Cola bottles are seen throughout, Google gets a quick mention, and every vehicle on the road seems to be a Volkswagen.
Senegal
Senegal’s film is culturally rich and cinematic in quality, evoking the pride of a nation selecting its most talented men to send into the fray overseas.
“The pirogue (an ancient canoe) is ready to head out to sea,” goes the narrative. “Only the warriors will have the honor of boarding. Those who never compromise on honor, those who never give up, whatever the suffering may be, those who stop at nothing.”
The visual subtext is also defiant and uncompromising – notice the two stars on the throne and the AFCON trophy being protected by the Teranga Lions? Senegal beat Morocco to win its second continental title earlier this year, but was subsequently deemed to have forfeited the game by African football’s governing body because much of the squad had left the field after a contentious penalty call late in the game. A 1-0 victory became a 3-0 defeat.
Either nobody told the producers of this film, or Senegal has not accepted the defeat.
Czech Republic and Germany
There are no hidden messages in the Czech Republic’s reveal video, just the most adorable clips of the players as kids starting out on their soccer journeys with a world of possibility ahead of them.
Their proud parents, who would have taken the footage and can be heard shouting words of encouragement from the sidelines, are featured holding scrapbook photographs with their amateur trophies in the background. Even if you don’t speak Czech, it’s hard for any parent to watch without becoming a little misty-eyed.
The German videos also focus on the players’ humble beginnings, deftly splicing early footage and photographs to the stars they grew up to be. Keep an eye out for Leon Goretzka’s earliest celebration and Lennart Karl’s Futsal goal is worth the price of admission alone.
England
The award for the biggest budget production probably goes to England, who revealed its squad to the soundtrack of The Beatles’ “Come Together.” Music by England’s Fab Four is notoriously the most expensive and difficult to license.
The film, shot in a gritty New York street, echoes the hysteria of the band’s “British Invasion” of the United States, with the players revealed on storefronts, yellow taxi cabs and music flyers. Look out for a neat reference to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s “legacy number” with the team: He was the 1,225th player to be called up by the team.
Fun fact, the 1966 in the telephone number of the Pickford store references a pivotal year for both the Beatles and the England team. The Three Lions won their only World Cup that year and, barely a month later, The Beatles played their last ever commercial concert at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
But the Easter eggs aren’t just for fans of the Beautiful Game, Beatles fans will love it too, you’ll see a lion three times in the Yellow Submarine sequence of the film, Harry Kane’s reveal looks an awful lot like the “Help!” album cover, and the photobooth images of Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke, Kobbie Mainoo and Bukayo Saka are straight from “A Hard Day’s Night.”
New Zealand
Arguably the most creative video is the most irreverent. New Zealand is returning to the big stage since the All Whites departed from the group stage as the only unbeaten team at the 2010 tournament in South Africa – champion Spain lost its opening match to Switzerland.
Having established that this is not a video for the country’s more famous All Blacks rugby team, they got the message across with a field of all white sheep. The reveal runs from players 1 through 26, leaning heavily on props and visual gags to name the squad.
An image of Tim Payne is shown behind a window pane, Jesse Randall on a flip flop – which the Kiwis call a jandal – and Francis de Vries is written in ketchup on a plate because his crosses are known to be so accurate. Once a prodigious golfer, Ben Old is a ball on the tee, 36-year-old Kosta Barbarouses is presented as a wine label (they say he’s aging like a fine wine) and Lachlan Bayliss is a bowl of popcorn because he plays club soccer for The Box Office Jets.
How can you not love a team that has so much fun with a project that so many others have taken so seriously?
