• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer, Yesterday

Anyone doubting that World Cup marketing knows no borders can have the best five minutes of their day with Adidas' new "Backyard Legends: The Greatest Football Story Ever Told."

Starring New Yorker Timothée Chalamet as narrator and hype man, the film tells the dramatic story of three London street kids who built an improbable dynasty in the 1990s, defeating every three-on-three challenger they ever faced. Along the way it conjures a time-traveling David Beckham (Mohawk era, naturally), a savvy Lionel Messi, and a parade of legends — all of them ultimately upstaged by three kids nobody's heard of: Ruthie, Isaak, and the bespectacled Clive.

It's exactly the kind of storytelling that separates great sports marketing from expensive sports marketing.

Is it true? Who cares?

Adidas, the Official Match Ball provider and kit supplier to 14 federations competing this summer, is a Tier 1 FIFA sponsor alongside such companies as Coca-Cola, Hyundai, Visa and Lenovo. The World Cup timing couldn't be better: The company is deep into a turnaround that has it outpacing rival Nike, and  momentum is building. Last month Adidas reported a 14% jump in overall sales, with a category-beating 31% surge in apparel, and beat expectations in both North America (up 12%) and greater China (up 17%).

David Swartz, who covers Adidas for Morningstar, argues the market is missing the bigger picture — too focused on near-term headwinds like North American discounting, tariffs and energy costs, and not enough on the brand's demonstrated ability to grow at above-market rates while expanding margins. He calls the company's FIFA marketing investment well-timed and well-sized.

"Backyard Legends" makes the case for why. In its announcement, Florian Alt, Adidas' vice president of global brand communications, describes the film's spirit as celebrating "the freedom" of playing for the joy of it — a reminder, he says, that "self-belief and playfulness are the real winning mindset." It's a sentiment that could easily collapse into corporate boilerplate. Here, with Chalamet loose and funny and three unknown kids carrying the emotional weight, it doesn't.

You can bet Nike is watching.