Nike’s Scorpion Knockout Tournament announces 18 years later – how Ronaldo, Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho inspired a generation

No matter how you referred to it: be it “Scorpion Football”, “The Cage”, or its real title “The Secret Tournament”, it’s hard to forget one of the biggest commercials of all time .

Not only has the Nike masterpiece been added to a collection of sensational football ads, but it has set the bar so high that we always get quality production – not just from the American manufacturer of sports.

It had 24 of the best players in the world, eight teams – three players on each side – a shiny silver ball, a container ship and a cage.

Éric Cantona, armed with a cane, was the master of ceremonies on board, using his sense of spectacle to bring everything together; gasping, cooing and heckling the assembled Nike heroes as they crashed the ball around the metallic surroundings aiming for the miniature goal, with a chained net.

In their drive to become one of the biggest brands in football, they created the ultimate tournament and ran it with a phenomenal £ 70 million campaign, all directed by Monty Python star Terry Gilliam.

It was really perfect and captured the imagination not only of children around the world but also of adults, desperate to know who would win.

It is a composition to lather any football fan to the mouth and he was not satisfied with flair players, with Tutto Bene in charge of Fabio Cannavaro and Rio Ferdinand.

He is a world class star and although the addition of Seol-Ki Hyeon may drool, it is quite logical since the announcement was broadcast before the 2002 World Cup, which was held at Japan and its homeland, South Korea. .

Meanwhile, two Dutch stars, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edgar Davids, succeed despite the nation not participating in the tournament, with Czech ace Tomas Rosicky and Javier Saviola also absent.

When you browse the teams for the World Cup, you realize how stacked Nike was in terms of football composition; pretty much the only big names in the tournament not featured in this announcement are David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Michael Ballack and an Argentinian cover, including Gabriel Batistuta and Juan Sebastian Veron.

A huge campaign for the ad began in March 2002, showing only a pair of boots and a scorpion.

The anticipation grew stronger and Nike would not disappoint with its post-apocalyptic street football tournament.

As soon as the ship’s horn sounds, with a collection of small vessels coming down, you know you’re ready to spoil yourself; it is dark and grainy and we will see our screens on.

First, we get Triple Espresso against The Onetouchables, a mix of skill and nonchalance against fire and force.

A Scholes seal dribble, a wild shot for miles and a Vieria slide block are the first highlights before Van Nistelrooy, unusually, hits the post.

Ultimately, it is ingenuity that prevails as Nakata cracks a ball in the corner of the cage and returned home by Totti.

While director Gilliam did a storyboard for the tournament, the game was not scripted and players were allowed to showboat adding to the natural look of all the publicity.

And even if the 24 players were not all in the same place at the same time, and that some lookalikes were brought for certain scenes, it is such a joy to watch the free players and to enjoy their fights.

Henry and Vieira ride horses, as well as subsequent clashes between Ronaldo and his compatriot Denilson.

Sylvain Wiltord, an underrated international from 96 caps in France and Arsenal Invincible, wins the second game for Cerberus – heading for his own rebound after bouncing the ball out of the cage.

Match three in the quarterfinals was obviously where it was going to be tasty; Figo, Ronaldo, Carlos, Denilson, Ronaldinho and, uh, Hyeon, was always going to give us a show of skills.

Brazilian clown prince Denilson, who was also a gold medalist in Nike’s advertisement for the 1998 Brazil World Cup at the airport, goads his opponents on his knees before putting the ball on his neck so Ronaldo chases after him.

Other games were grainy; that has Jogo Bonito everywhere… you can’t help but smile. A rainbow / scorpion kick hybrid from Carlos ends it all.

Cue the comical face of Denilson – he was once the most expensive footballer in the world in 1998, if you didn’t know.

In retrospect, it’s fascinating to see how little Ronaldinho plays a role. A few months later, that would all change – don’t remind David Seaman.

If the third game was a story of flair, the last quarter-final is all blood and thunder, and, finally, some run and point to Rio Ferdinand.

The first seconds are really just sprinting and tackling. A rabona and a bike kick from Equipo del Fuego (or Lazio, if you prefer) pick things up with MC Cantona urging this lawless group.

Another gallop of Ferdinand is meaningless before being easily overcome by Mendieta and the Spanish nets.

Fortunately, we don’t think Sir Alex Ferguson saw this otherwise the transfer of £ 30 million to Manchester United would not have taken place this summer. Shocking.

You can watch all of the advertising, unfortunately out of service, here

Triple Espresso vs Cerberus opens the semi-finals and a top David kicks off (the simple fact of looking at me made me pull the groin).

It’s literally suspicious, as the Dutchman climbs to gain an advantage; Cantona is quick to end it, thanks to a twitch of his cane.

An acceleration of rhythm on the part of Henry and a superb back heel of Nakata and it is done. The dogs of Hades are put back in their kennel.

Now is the time for what, in September 2002, would be Real Madrid against Lazio.

The early deception comes from Claudio Lopez, dazzling Carlos. Even though he was perhaps too busy looking at the exposed hair between Mendieta and Crepso.

Ronaldo also looks out the front doors, slightly disturbing. Soon, he and his teammates won, the Brazilian even used his sizable back to help him move the ball.

Figo ends it all however, with a punch in the chains leaving the aces of Lazio Mendieta and Crespo angry with Lopez, who failed to block.

This gives us an exciting but fairly predictable finale of Triple Espresso vs Os Tornados.

All the accumulation, the incredible skill, the cunning and the devil… it all comes down to that.

Eric Cantona’s slow walk towards the opening of the cage makes him even more tense, but then you know that something happens when Henry whispers in Totti’s ear.

At the time, the deception of the Arsenal man may have surprised us. But knowing how he would later send the Irish to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, we can see that he was still missing the class we thought he personified.

Totti falls to “tie his shoes” and once again Os Tornados is far too easily distracted. The balloon is dropped.

Henry uses his teammate as a ladder, inspiring children in all playgrounds around the world, and plonks an imposing header house.

A hard lesson in football is always that the best do not always win. This is certainly the case here.

But luckily, given the success of the campaign and the horrible end of the Scorpion Knockout tournament, we got the replay that we all wanted in another ad.

This time, no cage and first 100. Everyone could get behind.

The triumvirate of Real Madrid propelled at the head but it is tight all the time. Each strike, however, dislodges more and more bolts from the surprisingly weak hull of the container ship.

The bike kicks, back heels and glances passing galore are a visual treat, as well as a long range mark outside of Carlos’ curler.

Cantona gives us an all-too-familiar cry of “ victories at the next goal ” and Figo duly hammers a right-footed shot home – only to pop the ship wide open, flood the ground and sink them – although we see luckily the superstars swim.

Nike continues to advertise creative and fun football; their “Nothing beats a Londoner” campaign in 2018 was a viral success and not only made people laugh, but inspired a new generation.

The “Secret Tournament” series was one of the first of its kind; a showcase of high quality talent and an exhilarating concept that has captured the imagination with Nike organizing competitions for children around the world.

It still holds. Although Rosicky was the last of these men to retire at the end of 2017, these superstars still have a huge place in the hearts and minds of millennial football fans.

Even stranded, we immediately want to go down to the local park and see if we can replicate the skills on display in one of the biggest commercials of all time – just 18 years later.

It retains a mythical aura and it’s hard to believe that a similar ad would now be as good.