During Luka Grkovic’s first week in his dream role as a model designer for Lego, he wandered around the office and noticed a colleague playing with a tiny football made of Lego. It intrigued him.

Growing up in Split, Croatia, Grkovic loved football. He still idolises compatriot Luka Modric, whose AC Milan shirt he wore during his interview with The Athletic. 

Initially in Billund, a Danish town famous for being the birthplace of Lego bricks, Grkovic worked with the City team, which focuses on real-world themes, and would design police figures and firefighters. But soon his passion and knowledge of football would lead him to another role.

In the summer of 2024, the Editions team, a 16-person group which focuses on creating highly collectible products, had begun work on a special product launch to coincide with the men’s 2026 World Cup.

“We knew football was a big passion for the targeted audience, which is teens and (children aged) 10-plus. It was the perfect time to join because I was working on a lot of concepts initially doing a lot of different models,” Grkovic, who started working at Lego in late 2024, explained.

Last month was the big launch for the figures which feature four of the sport’s biggest names: Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Vinicius Junior and France’s Kylian Mbappe. All four were part of the two-year long process, signing off on their minifigure faces and giving their preference as to what colour boots they wanted to wear.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronald, Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe feature as Lego figures (LEGO Group)

The start of the process differs from designer to designer. Some start sketching on paper, a computer or tablet; others, like Grkovic, prefer to get on the ground and build with bricks before using technology.

“I did the first concepts for the buildable Cristiano Ronaldo figure, and then a lot of different vignettes and different styles. It was a lot exploration for the first three to four months. And then we figured out this is what we’re going to do and started working on the products,” he said.

There are at least two bespoke designs per player; minifigures, which have their own plaques — the Ronaldo plaque, for example, has the player’s stats and signature — and bigger, more realistic and expensive versions.

The designs range in height, price and number of pieces. The smallest is 490 pieces, while Messi’s celebration set — which, when completed, has the Argentine great in his national colours, raising his arms aloft, fingers pointing skywards — is 1,427 pieces. The cost ranges from £24.99 ($29.99) for the minifigure designs to £159.99 ($199) for that one-of-a-kind Messi celebration.

The design process started in the summer of 2024 (LEGO Group)

Grkovic was the lead product designer tasked with bringing Ronaldo and Mbappe to the Lego universe.

At various points during the process, they showed the ideas and products to children all over the world to get their feedback.

“We knew these (sets) were maybe getting to new fans, or to people who haven’t built with Lego bricks before, so we didn’t go crazy with the techniques,” said Grkovic.

“We tried to have some fun ways of building, but not too complicated also because of the age mark is 10-plus not 18-plus.”

“In teams, we share the designs and we get different opinions from different people,” he added. “For the football test, we assembled a group of designers who are just very passionate about football and brought them together, especially for the plaques we designed.

“We had a lot of different fans weighing in their opinions.”

Overall, around 50 tests are undertaken before a product is boxed up and shipped to toy stores around the world.

All raw materials used go through a screening process, with emphasis on chemical, physical, hygiene and flammability testing. There’s also chemical analysis tests for substance and colour migration and a durability test, which includes a specific bite test to make sure elements do not break under pressure

“Lego sets go through a few procedures, like the heat test and the stability test, to make sure the sets are stable enough and if the building experience itself works well,” Grkovic explained. “It’s a long process with a lot of governance and checking, making sure it’s up to quality standards.”

The players and their teams had the final sign off on how their figures looked (LEGO Group)

After the testing processes, which also included heat and lighting tests to see how Lego ages after being in the sun, Grkovic met Ronaldo on the set for the commercial shoot. That was the first time the Portugal star saw himself in minifigure form.

“He was quite observant looking at the products,” Grkovic recalled. “And when I said this is how many career trophies you have won he was like, ‘Oh, yeah, you know!’ He was happy that we got all the details right.”

Some of those details include seven hidden easter eggs, one of which is a small picture of a goat, relating to the “greatest of all time” acronym often used to describe Portugal’s record appearance-maker and goalscorer. Messi’s design also features a goat but a different one to that of Ronaldo’s.

“His team was very happy from the start,” Grkovic said. “They knew they had passionate people working on the products. But it was very surreal for me to be there. I was a bit nervous shaking his hand and sitting next to him. But definitely a dream came true that I didn’t know could happen.”

The designs range in height, price and number of pieces (LEGO Group)

It was the players and their teams who had the final sign off on how their figures looked.

“We definitely worked a lot with them, they had input along the whole process,” Grkovic said. “For example, the hair piece, that was us showing him (Ronaldo) the options and him picking the one he liked the most. And details that are relevant to him, like the minifigure, they all had a bit of input on that. We made all the choices that they were also happy with.”

The launch consisted of a playful advert featuring the four players seated around a table reacting to their own minifigures.

Getting Messi and Ronaldo on the same advertising campaign, albeit not filming in the same room, was a win given the last, and only time, the pair have linked up on a commercial opportunity was for fashion house Louis Vuitton ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

An advert featured all four players trying to put their minifigures on the World Cup trophy made from Lego (LEGO Group)

Ronaldo, in particular, was pleased with the collaboration.

“It was fun and competitive as you’d expect from fellow athletes,” Ronaldo told The Athletic via email. “I think the outcome was great and we also had much fun doing it. After all, we should all keep that kid spirit that takes us through the game and through life in the same winning way.

“My kids are really into Lego building so they were very excited to see me as a Lego minifigure, they can finally play with me in their Lego world. This is what makes it special, connecting football and family and a bit of imagination.”