Lionel Messi Teams With Sony Music Entertainment On New Animated Series

Argentina national team and Paris St. Germain forward Lionel Messi is getting his own animated series. But fans of classics like Blue Lock and Be Blues! shouldn’t get too excited just yet, as the Messi show looks to be aimed at younger audiences and there’s no indication that soccer will feature as a main theme.

Series details:

• Messi, considered by many to be the greatest player of all time, is teaming up with Sony Music Entertainment to develop the series, which will feature the player when he was a child. Although his own life story is certainly one that will be told time and again in films and shows, this animated series will be fictitious and fanciful and feature young Messi traveling through the world of a video game, overcoming various hurdles along the way. The target audience is children and young adolescents.
• According to Deadline, which broke the news, the series will be produced in English, Spanish, and several other languages. Presumably one of those will be French, as Messi is currently plying his trade in Paris.
• Sony Music’s Premium Content Division is producing in partnership with Leo Messi Management and will oversee the development and distribution of the series. No animation studio is named in the report, and no network or platform is attached yet.
• The timing of the series feels right, as Messi cemented what was already a tremendous legacy in December when he captained the Argentina national team to a World Cup victory. And, at 35 years old, Messi is likely already planning for life after soccer. Numerous former athletes have used their sports celebrity to get into entertainment production, including Messi’s former Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique. In Messi’s case, there is already a Cirque du Soleil show that bears his name in Buenos Aires.
• Said Messi, “Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved animated series and my kids are big fans of animated characters. Being able to participate in an animation project makes me happy because it fulfills one of my dreams. I would like to thank Sony Music for joining this project and we hope that everyone will like the result, especially the girls and the boys.”
• Sony Music Entertainment executive vp, business development, Latin-Iberia regional, added: “It is a privilege for Sony Music to collaborate with Lionel Messi on this project to showcase the power and lessons of sports in partnership with the greatest football player of all time and one of the greatest athletes in history. We look forward to bringing this heartwarming and humbling series to screens for audiences of all ages around the world.”