Adidas

Football

COllective

& City of Angels FC

What

Brand narrative for an LA-based community soccer club and a global football communities platform for Adidas.

Role: Creative Direction, (City of Angels FC), copy, concept

Agency: Sunshine

Creative Director (Adidas Football Collective): Shaun Savage

A black and white logo for the American Football College Association with a stylized football and curved lines in a circular design.

City of Angels FC manifesto film

How it started

LA-based City of Angels FC may only have played in the 4th tier of US soccer, but they had a big goal: To beat the pay-to-play system that keeps underprivileged talent out of the game in the States. By creating a culture-first, streetwear-influenced brand, they aimed to attract sponsors and partnership support that would make top class coaching available for free to promising young players.

Our brand story, Believe in the Underdog positioned them as the club for supporters anywhere in the world who want to upend the status quo. It helped them win global press coverage, support from Epson and Manchester United, a place in EA Sports’ FIFA21, and a bespoke kit supply deal with Adidas of the kind usually reserved for their elite clubs.

Pink City of Angels Football Club soccer jersey with Adidas logo, black team logo, and black and pink stripe accents, laid on a blue and white chevron-patterned fabric background.
In-game menu selection screen from FIFA 21 Ultimate Team showing various football kits, including Arsenal, Arsenal away, City of Angels, and others, with a player model on the right wearing a pink kit.
Three young people sitting on a vintage sofa in a room with wooden walls, with the text "We are Soccer's Punk Label" overlaying the image.
A young girl stands in profile against a chain-link fence at night with blurred city lights in the background. Overlaid text reads: "But in the land of the free, the beautiful game has become an ugly business. The price of youth football builds walls of privilege and dreams are destroyed before they've begun."
Black background with white text inside a white border. The text reads: 'Founded in 2017, City of Angels FC was born with its boots on and a sworn mission:'
A young man with a striped sweater holding a smoke flare on a crowded soccer field, with orange smoke and a large crowd in the background, and text that reads 'TO TEAR UP THIS ORDER'.

What happened next

The potential for the City of Angels FC project to connect authentically with street-level players and supporters prompted Adidas to reassess their global soccer communities activity.

After winning a competitive pitch, we developed out concept of Adidas Football Collective as a platform dedicated to opening up access to the game to all those frozen out, for any reason, anywhere in the world.

Adidas Football Collective launch film

A mural on a building wall with Nike sponsorship, featuring the Adidas Football Collective logo and a written message advocating for unity and equality in football, with an adjacent artistic graffiti piece of a blue female face with elaborate makeup.

We created a strategy, visual ID, design system and creative playbook that would allow Adidas to put their resources, star talent and leading club partners in service of grassroots football in six key cities, creating opportunities for affinity-building storytelling for a justice-minded audience.

The platform has since seen Adidas renovate football courts in London and Paris, connect organisations as diverse as FIFA, the UEFA Champions League, the Black Womens’ Player Collective, England Amputee Football Association and Stonewall FC, and create editorial content in support of grassroots football with Copa 90.

Page from a magazine or presentation slide with the Adidas logo and text about Adidas Football Collective, emphasizing creativity and social justice themes.
A graphic from Adidas Football Collective showing a circular diagram with words like Change, The Future, Poverty, Injustice, Racism, Women, Hope, Pride, Equality, and Change around the circle, emphasizing themes of social issues and solidarity.
A presentation slide with the title "HOW THE ADIDAS FOOTBALL COLLECTIVE WILL CREATE CHANGE" on the left. The right side has a black background with a diagram showing one goal at the top, two actions in the middle, one hub below the actions, and two outcomes at the bottom, all in vibrant colors.
Colorful graphic with three sections, each featuring a logo with a stylized football and the words 'FOOTBALL COLLEGE' around it, and a letter indicating a football score: 'LA' in pink on yellow, 'LON' in navy on pale green, and 'PAR' in pink on gray.
Group of seven diverse people posing together in a photography studio with camera lighting, against a plain green backdrop. Some are sitting, some standing, with the adidas logo and a graphic reading "adidas FOOTBALL COLLECTIVE" superimposed on the image.