Nike didn't make a commercial for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It made a blockbuster. "Rip the Script," the brand's sprawling short film released ahead of this summer's tournament, brings together Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Vini Jr. alongside LeBron James, Travis Scott, Kim Kardashian, Channing Tatum, and Jason Sudeikis reprising his Ted Lasso role, among others, all set against a chaotic Hollywood studio backlot. The scale is deliberate, and so is the message.
What makes Nike's "Rip the Script" different from any World Cup ad before it?
“Rip the Script” arrives with the scale of a Hollywood production, but Nike’s goal extends far beyond creating a memorable commercial. The film turns a chaotic studio backlot into a playground where football stars and entertainers collide, creating moments that feel spontaneous rather than carefully manufactured.
According to Helena Thornton, Nike’s Vice President of Brand Management, the idea was to embrace both spectacle and authenticity. “We wanted to kind of play into the idea of Hollywood and blockbuster movies and all of the pieces, whilst also acknowledging that people today have far greater access to athletes and to singers and entertainers than maybe they’ve ever had before, and they also now expect to see a much more real and rawness to them, because they become accustomed to it,” says Thornton.
That philosophy is visible throughout the film. Football legends such as Ronaldinho, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Didier Drogba appear alongside cultural figures including Kim Kardashian, Channing Tatum, Travis Scott and LISA. The casting reflects Nike’s belief that football today sits at the center of a broader cultural conversation rather than existing solely within sports.
How does “Rip the Script” extend beyond a traditional commercial?
The short film is only the opening chapter. Nike has developed roughly 185 additional pieces of content tied to the campaign, designed to live across platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, X and Reddit. The strategy acknowledges that audiences no longer engage with a single advertisement and move on. They dissect, share and expand stories online.
“There’s actually an unreleased track in there from a huge artist, and that’s a way to get people to enter content and have a different conversation,” Thornton says. “You don’t have to sit there and watch a 30 second advert from that particular artist saying a thing. We’ve actually given you something that you can truly go and discover and go and explore for yourself, and I think that really is going to be the future of storytelling.”
The campaign also leans into lighter moments. One sequence features Haaland and Tatum exchanging playful banter, offering fans a side of the Manchester City striker rarely seen during competition. For Nike, those unscripted interactions are just as valuable as highlight-reel goals.
With the 2026 World Cup set to be hosted across North America, Nike saw an opportunity to rethink its approach rather than simply make a bigger version of past campaigns. The result is a project that blends football, entertainment and digital culture into a single narrative, reflecting how fans consume sport in 2026. Instead of asking audiences to follow a script, Nike is inviting them to create their own conversations around the game.
Prantik Prabal Roy is a passionate sports writer who eats, breath...
Read MorePrantik Prabal Roy is a passionate sports writer who eats, breathes, and lives the game. Since 2020, he has been in the content writing industry after completion of his Master's degree in English literature and covering the NFL since 2024 with sharp insights, while also diving into the NHL and MLB with equal enthusiasm. He loves crafting content that drives traffic without sacrificing quality. He blends storytelling with analysis to keep readers hooked. When he’s not writing, Prantik can be found cheering on the Buffalo Bills or diving into books that celebrate the world of sports.
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