Ranking the Top Football Commercials From the Past 15 Years

In what has long been one of my favorite aspects of any major sporting competition, the major sportswear companies release commercials (often just one full-length piece of work) that often sear themselves into my memory.

I can't help it. I'm a sucker for creativity, and soccer commercials are my virtual blonde bombshell.

Who will ever forget Nike's brilliant "Write the Future" promotional campaign in the month ahead of the 2010 World Cup?

Many labeled the full-length commercial, directed by acclaimed film director Alejandro González Iñárritu (if you haven't seen Biutiful, do), as the best sports advertisement of all time. All-time.

High praise, but not exactly hyperbole. This one held its own as an enduring classic.

While that ad was always going to be the odds-on favorite to claim top spot, here's a list of four others that captured my imagination with inexorable holds.

5. "Take It to the Next Level" — Nike

It was the perfect encapsulation of every kid's dream.

Training alone on some windswept field, hours having passed in blissful oblivion. Just a soccer ball and your imagination.

Those two things can be a potent combination for a youngster, who is susceptible to rose-tinted visions of future grandeur—playing on the world's biggest stages, amongst your heroes.

It's a far cry from humble beginnings, but that background provides a fitting base for the most breathtaking of dreams.

The ads from this campaign that ran on TV were much shorter—often 30 seconds' worth of what was, in fact, more than three minutes of footage, but the message came across all the same.

Keep working, and you can realize your dreams. A feat made easier if you wear Nike gear, of course.

All joking aside, it was a classic bit of work from a company that has made brilliance a standard over the years.

4. "The Secret Tournament" — Nike

Again, I decided to use the longer version of the commercial, mainly because it's more fun (at least to my mind) to watch this faux tournament play out in its entirety.

World Cup 2002 brings back memories of staying up until 2 a.m. in the United States to watch games halfway around the world.

Popcorn and soda in tow. My family all gone to bed.

Those matches in Japan and South Korea were a veritable video version of what National Geographic must have provided for youngsters in generations before mine.

There was something infinitely enthralling about watching an event so closely followed by so many. I felt like I was a part of something during those wondrous collections of 90 minutes.

This publicity hits a resonant chord with me, since I received a promotional CD-ROM (remember those) video game version of the commercial in a Eurosport order.

It wasn't the best quality, but it was still quite a thrill to play with my heroes of that time—Figo, Henry, et. al on my computer. Dictating the blinding pace of indoor play with the click of mouse.

No one kid should have all that power, I must have thought at the time.

This was also one of the first times I remember seeing Eric Cantona as the emcee of a Nike ad.

I'd previously known him as that annoying forward with the popped collar (who does that?) from rivals Manchester United.

I have to admit that he's surprised me with the breadth and depth of his acting over the years.

I'll never forget staring dumbfounded in some Parisien metro station at a poster promoting Cantona's star turn in a French theater production. Never saw that coming, I'd thought then.

3. "Impossible Is Nothing" — Adidas

This was sheer brilliance from the folks at Adidas, who've long provided some of the best ads during major competitions.

("The Road to Lisbon" from Euro 2004 has long been a personal favorite).

Any grown-up could feel a concerted tug at their nostalgic heart strings while watching two kids pick teams chock-full of legends.

It's any sporting enthusiast's dream come to life.

The digital additions of past heroes such as Beckenbauer and Platini, juxtaposed with the then-current generation of top players from around the world was top-drawer ingenuity.

2. "Good vs. Evil" — Nike

What was initially supposed to be a collection of the top commercials from the past decade stretched to 15 years in order to include this enduring classic from the mid-nineties.

The uniforms were baggier, and certainly not Dri-Fit (copyright), and the players wearing those vintage threads have long since retired.

But the idea is timeless.

Athletes are a kid's heroes; a perfect example of all that is good with the world. The juxtaposition with demonic elements may have been a bit over-the-top, but the idea was there.

And though I'm certainly not his biggest fan, there was no better way to end this ad than with Cantona popping his collar before unleashing a firecracker toward goal.

"Write the Future" — Nike

I remember watching this for the first time.

It's one of those moments, eternal in your mind, able to be recalled instantly despite the myriad information your mind collects on a daily basis.

Most of those thoughts pass through like the morning paper carried about by a strong gust of wind. The great memories linger.

The commercial first aired during the 2010 Champions League final, though it had gone viral days earlier.

Halftime of the Inter Milan-Bayern Munich match was the first time I'd seen it, however.

I'll never forget the room going deathly quiet around me—my friends and I dumbstruck by the rapid-fire brilliance thrown at us in the guise of a commercial.

You had to race to take in all the cultural references and quick-cuts. Even for a kid who's part of the YouTube generation, my short attention span was tested.

It was the sort of career-defining work consistently seen from Inarritu's work, his message delivered in a most engaging manner.

When football is at its best, its pace is blinding. It's difficult to keep up as your mind races along that downhill ski-slope of ecstatic feeling, but that's part of the fun.

You want to remain in that amethyst daze, in danger of careening off course, wrapped up in the moment.

I have no doubt that this will go down as one of the greatest bits of television work ever. Not just for a commercial, mind you, but any form of video entertainment.

It was a perfect homage for the greatest sporting tournament on the face of the earth.

(In some ways, it surpassed the oft-cumbersome spectacle provided by the actual football in South Africa that summer.)