The debate over who is the GOAT was stronger than ever at the FIFA World Cup 2022, endlessly debated by football fans, athletes, commentators and sports scientists. Alongside this, hype around the metaverse and its potential in sport, was percolating.

The brief was to create a “footballverse” to bring to life the greatest line-up of past, present and future football talent, to underpin Nike’s long-standing belief that the future of sport has infinite potential, encouraging a new generation of footballers to prove it.

Objectives:

- Create an epic journey through footballing history to solve the timeless debate of who’s the GOAT.

- Use VFX and CGI to show how footballing legends of this generation would stack up against the best of the past and the next.

- Show that every generation makes a unique footprint on the game, expands the sport, and inspires future athletes to leave their mark.

Scientists and football players are the two main groups in this film. As one would expect from a CERN-style laboratory, the scientists needed to represent great minds of all ethnicities, genders, cultures, ages and body types from around the globe. Embroidered flags on their uniforms give a sense of how diverse the scientists are. The main rivalry about who is the GOAT revolves around the characters Rousseau and Machado. Rousseau is a French woman in her 30s, conveying utter conviction. Professor Machado is a Brazilian scientist in his 60s with first-hand experience of football’s golden age. With conflicting passions they arrive at the identical conclusion - go forward in time to reach a conclusion. Football players were brought on set to play their roles. Body doubles and lookalike athletes - with CGI age-down de-aging techniques - played retired players or those from different eras.