ZUZU F.C.

It’s no accident the 1996 Nike “Good vs Evil” is a classic. It was written like one. Literally. Directed by advertising legend Tarsem Singh, the 90 seconds script mirrors a 90 minutes film script hitting every plot-point with scary precision. The story follows the Hero’s Journey by Joseph Campbell—the timeless storytelling structure seen in movies like Star Wars and Wizard of OZ. Ready?

ACT I

The Call To Adventure. “A Dark warrior rose to destroy the beautiful game.” The ordinary world is under the lethal threat of destruction by the Prince of Darkness himself, El Diablo. (0:10) 🕐

ACT II

Cross The Threshold. Our heroes, the Nike Squad, are between our soccer world and the devilish one. They step on a pitch outline in hellfire (0:20) 🕜

The Enemies. Heroes face their rivals—a bestiary of devil dudes with 1980s headgear braces. 

Testing The Heroes. In a Materrazzi-Meets-Stam fashion, the devil dudes shove, elbow, and round kick whoever is in possession, beating the living sh*t out of our heroes.  It’s pure chaos.

Searching Allies. Wright-Phillips implores for justice to the ref that, for once, is actually blind. 

The Supreme Ordeal. Jorge Campos is in a 4 v 1 situation, and defeat looks inevitable. Just then, they rose with Maldini’s sliding tackle, winning the ball. (0:50) 🕒

Seizing the Reward. Ronaldo applies a carretilha that shows their power. The satanic foe reacts like a gentleman compared to how human players would react. 

ACT III

The Climax. Cantona flips his collar up and… “au revoir” blasting the fireball through Lucifer’s chest into the net. (1:20) 🕒

Heroes Return Home. The order is restored and our heroes are back (at least Wright-Phillips is). The Beautiful Game is saved. (1:30) 🕒

Wow. Even a wild idea (like Beelzebub’s pals playing a pick up game) needs structure to work on screen. Nike tapped into our subconscious by using the blueprint of epic, deeply embedded in our cultural psyche. 

That’s why it clicks.