FC BAYERN WORLD SQUAD not only breaks with the laws of the international soccer transfer market. With a unique storytelling approach, the six-part series brings the enthusiasm for soccer closer to the next generation and shows in an accessible way that the billion-dollar business of soccer does not always have to be about money.

Football is a billion-dollar business with a rare resource: talent. In order to keep up with the best of the best, big clubs are spending more and more money to sign the youngest and most promising players from all over the world. FC Bayern Munich and their partner of youth football Volkswagen wanted to make a difference with an idea that challenges the established talent system.

The primary target group of the campaign was the next generation of soccer fans. Especially Gen Z, which in parts has lost its enthusiasm for soccer and has lost the direct relationship with the billion-dollar business of soccer.

We created the FC Bayern World Squad: a team of promising players from local pitches, backyards, minor leagues and from the edge of the world, who never had a chance to be on the radar of the big leagues. To find them we kicked off a worldwidesocial-media casting.

The 15 most promising talents were then put together as a team by its coach: world champion Klaus Augenthaler. Then, in a unique storytelling approach, we created a six-episode original series about the newly formed team.

Over the period of 20 weeks, we followed the FC Bayern World Squad around the globe, highlighting their individual stories and how they ultimately became a team. A new and disruptive way to find football talents no one is looking for.

In order to reach our target audience, we used classic storytelling patterns in the six-part series that GenZ members are familiar with from series they usually consume: like awakening, uncertainty, strength and the fight against an almost overpowering opponent.

Thereby we focused primarily on individual players with diverse biographies, so that there were different heroes our target group was able to relate to.

The first episode of the series was aired in September 2021 on YouTube and the Social Channels of FC Bayern Munich and Volkswagen. Every week another episode was released until mid-october when the series ended with the grand finale: a game of the FC Bayern World Squad against the Under 23 team of FC Bayern Munich. After the great success of the series, sky Germany got the right to broadcast the series and showed it on their pay-TV channels in the sports segment

Over 100 million in total reach, 99% positive user reactions, 214 million hashtag impressions, a Return on Sponsoring Invest of 3.2 and press coverage from all over the world. The FC Bayern World Squad series was a full-on success. Not only for Volkswagen and FC Bayern Munich but also for the players who received contract offers from top-tier clubs, right after the series ended. And the most promising talent is now even training together with the pros of FC Bayern Munich.

But the biggest achievement: we showed that you don’t have to spend millions of dollars to find million-dollar talent.