{"id":127039,"date":"2026-07-10T14:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/127039\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T14:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:16:12","slug":"how-the-lego-group-has-turned-soccer-fandom-into-its-next-big-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/127039\/","title":{"rendered":"How The LEGO Group Has Turned Soccer Fandom Into Its Next Big Play"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"LEGO<\/p>\n

LEGO’s immortalization of soccer icons is its latest step to satisfy fandoms across entertainment, sport, and more.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group\u2019s recent collaborations have underscored its growing focus on fandom. You could argue that football has been its most ambitious target in recent years \u2014 its 2026 FIFA World Cup lineups, which seem omnipresent in stores worldwide, are proof that it\u2019s going all in on the sport.<\/p>\n

Its inevitable FIFA World Cup Official Trophy (43020)<\/a>, plus the Emblem (43032)<\/a> and more left-field Football (43019)<\/a>, are perhaps more predictable LEGO fare, but the company\u2019s decision to create four Football Highlights sets in conjunction with four of the game\u2019s biggest names \u2014 Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Vinicius Jr. \u2014 is a much more curious concept.<\/p>\n

The sets are part of LEGO Editions, a line launched earlier this year specifically created to celebrate fandoms, which has since spawned collaborations with Formula 1 drivers<\/a> and Olivia Rodrigo<\/a>. While the LEGO Group has a long history of creating products connected to huge franchises \u2014 just look at its vast Star Wars collection\u2014 football is arguably the most high-profile, or, at least, accessible example of its renewed approach so far, with some of the world\u2019s most recognizable athletes arriving in pocket-friendly $30 sets just in time for the biggest event on the sport\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n

For senior product designer Freddy Charters, who designed the sets for Messi and Vini Jr., the project brought together two of his biggest passions: designing LEGO sets and following football.<\/p>\n

Originally from Hereford, U.K., Charters has spent the past six years turning a childhood interest in design into a career at the LEGO Group. He joined the company as an intern while studying industrial design at Loughborough University, working on LEGO Ninjago before returning as a full-time product designer after a brief freelance spell with the LEGO Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has worked across LEGO DREAMZzz, LEGO Monkie Kid, and now LEGO Editions, designing more than 20 sets during his time with the company. The internship that first brought him to the LEGO Group has also come full circle, as Charters now helps train the next generation of LEGO design interns.<\/p>\n

Although his career has taken him through several themes, LEGO Editions has offered a particularly personal challenge: creating sets based on players he\u2019s followed throughout his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I\u2019m a huge football fan,\u201d he says. \u201cI was just ridiculously excited, and grateful, you know? It was a dream assignment, but the LEGO Group wanted to choose people who were football fans in the building, right? We wanted to make sure it was made for fans, because the whole Editions range is made for fans, by fans. That was really important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rising up the leagues<\/p>\n

Charters\u2019 route to LEGO was not necessarily the traditional path of someone who grew up determined to become a toy or sports equipment creator, and the opportunity to join the LEGO Group came through an industrial design degree and a year-long internship.<\/p>\n

Freddy Charters, senior product designer at the LEGO Group.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be in design in some way since school,\u201d he says. \u201cI went to University in Loughborough. I did an industrial design degree there, which required a year-long internship. I applied for lots of internships, but I was very lucky to get one with the LEGO Group as a designer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked on Ninjago, and then I did that for a year. I finished my final year of studies, and after a few months of freelance design work for the LEGO Foundation, I actually ended up getting a full-time job as a model designer at the LEGO Group. That\u2019s where I joined LEGO DREAMZzz.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opportunity was particularly significant because Charters had been a LEGO fan growing up, even if he went through a familiar period during high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it as a kid, and I love LEGO bricks and just building and coming up with anything I could, especially around LEGO Knights; I loved anything like that \u2014 anything with castles in it. I liked it a lot when I was a kid, and then I went through that teenage phase where I didn\u2019t build as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the internship opportunity came up, I was, like, oh my God, this sounds really amazing, and I even remember in my interview for that, I cited my love of LEGO Knights\u2019 Kingdom from when I was a kid, and so when I got the job, I became a big LEGO fan again through the internship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fan favorites<\/p>\n

That personal connection became especially valuable when the team began working on the Football Highlights sets. The challenge wasn\u2019t simply to recreate famous players, but to decide which parts of their careers would matter most to supporters.<\/p>\n

The four sets celebrate Lionel Messi, Vinicius Jr., Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, with each model using colors, symbols, and hidden references to represent a player\u2019s identity. The team wanted the builds to feel consistent as a collection while still reflecting the individual stories behind each footballer.<\/p>\n

Charters explains: \u201cThere was just so much to put in. It was a lot of research, working out which moments in their career would be most iconic for fans. We really wanted to make it a good experience for the fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a lot of existing knowledge because we\u2019re football fans ourselves, all of us beforehand, so we knew a lot about the players\u2019 careers. We picked the moments we thought were most important. And you know, whatever, whatever the most important ones we could put in there, we would put in there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we gathered all the football fans from around the building. To have a sort of designer\u2019s playtest, almost, and ask what the most important thing to you is for this, for this player, or something like that, we had a lot of those feedback loops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authenticity is key<\/p>\n

The focus on authenticity also influenced which designers worked on which players. Charters and fellow designer Luka Grkovic<\/a> were initially assigned different footballers, but their own connections to the sport led them to rethink the split.<\/p>\n

Freddy Charters and Luka Grkovic, holding the LEGO Editions Football Highlights sets they created.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I mean, originally, Luka was given Mbappe and Messi, and I was given Vini Jr and Ronaldo, but we basically came together, and we were like, this doesn\u2019t really make sense because Luka has been a lifelong fan of Ronaldo and Real Madrid, and so he was like, \u2018I\u2019d love to work on the Ronaldo one,\u2019 and for me, Messi\u2019s the greatest of all time, so we just said, \u2018why don\u2019t we switch?\u2019 And our leaders were like, yeah, it makes more sense for the people who are actually more fans of that player to switch. So, yeah, we switched.\u201d<\/p>\n

That decision reflects one of the LEGO Group\u2019s broader ideologies about LEGO Editions: that fans will notice when something is created with genuine passion and understanding, rather than simply built around a recognizable name.<\/p>\n

The devil\u2019s in the details, too, as Charters explains with his two Football Highlights sets. Each model includes references that reward those who know the players\u2019 careers beyond their most famous attributes or on-pitch moments. Charters says some of the more secretive references have already been discovered by fans online, while others remain hidden.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been seeing a lot of videos online about the hidden references in these sets, and that\u2019s really cool,\u201d he says. \u201cThere are some that fans are still missing. I\u2019m also kind of, like, proud they still haven\u2019t been discovered. I\u2019ve been gradually trying to uncover those things for people as well. With the Messi one, there are quite a few.\u201d<\/p>\n

LEGO Editions #43011 Lionel Messi \u2013 Football Highlights<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group<\/p>\n

Among the references in the Messi set are nods to his Ballon d\u2019Or victories and the clubs where he achieved those milestones; trees representing the growth of his career; and, in the base, Messi\u2019s connection to mate, the traditional South American drink he adores.<\/p>\n

Still, the intention wasn\u2019t to add details for their own sake; Charters wanted the build itself to feel like a journey through a player\u2019s career, giving fans new things to discover as they progressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really wanted it to be an experience and a journey throughout the set. I\u2019ve learned from all the previous IPs that I\u2019ve worked on \u2014 homegrown IPs \u2014 that play experiences are so important, so if I can make sure that a kid is building that set, but, you know, starting from the first bag, second bag, third bag… If each bag has something new to discover along the way, then I\u2019ve done my job well. I was really happy to see that people are discovering those sets and really loving the references.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the players<\/p>\n

The involvement of the players themselves was also important in ensuring the final products accurately represented their careers. Given the demands of playing at the highest level, the LEGO team worked through each player\u2019s management team to gather feedback throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they\u2019re obviously very busy players. They were part of a very busy season as well, playing for their respective teams, and so we were initially involved with the players\u2019 management teams. And they were involved throughout the whole process. We came up with an initial concept, presented it to them, and they would then show it to the players. That way, the players would have their own input as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charters says there was once a perception that football and LEGO might not naturally belong together, but he sees the two as connected by the same thing: creativity and passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess some might say that there was like a misconception that football and LEGO don\u2019t mix in some ways, because they would say that people who love football just go outside and play football, or they might even play FIFA or something like that, but for me, as a football fan, I was like, no, I would really love something that expresses my fandom, and I think that\u2019s what we want to do in the new LEGO Editions line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be able to take those fandoms and make something you can express your fandom with in your room, and put it on display and proudly say that you built this set that represents your fandom, and I think that\u2019s something that we really wanted to achieve, and I think it\u2019s proven that; it\u2019s done that, so that\u2019s really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Football remains close to home for Charters. One of the defining moments of the project came when he traveled to meet Messi and Vinicius Jr. and present the finished sets in person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to see him in the green room for that now-iconic advert we did for the World Cup. Yeah, they loved it. They honestly loved it, especially Messi. I was so proud to show it to Messi.\u201d <\/p>\n

Lionel Messi, enamoured by his three LEGO sets while in the green room for the LEGO Editions video shoot.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group<\/p>\n

He continues: \u201cI went to speak to Lionel, and he obviously doesn\u2019t speak much English. But I was able to speak as much Spanish as I could. I was able to show him the details of the set and have my colleague, who is Spanish, explain them to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was able to do that, and they were able to show them, and he said it was, it was overwhelmed because it was, he said, it was surreal because his. Um, his kids have grown up being huge LEGO fans, so for now, for them to be building their dad? He said it was a completely surreal moment for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that career milestone, Charters is already thinking about what comes next, even though he\u2019s delighted to be part of the LEGO Editions team. As with any LEGO designer you\u2019ll talk to, he\u2019s always open to new challenges \u2014 though one football-related idea would be particularly perfect for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to see something to do at the Premier League, obviously, being a huge fan,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s been something I\u2019ve followed all my life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, obviously, as a huge England fan right now, I\u2019d love to see something to represent Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham, the two people who\u2019ve been driving our success right now. I mean, I think it\u2019d be great to make something as a tribute to England winning the World Cup this year\u2026 because, you know, it\u2019s coming home.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEGO’s immortalization of soccer icons is its latest step to satisfy fandoms across entertainment, sport, and more. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6050],"tags":[28928,4248,19506,6051,30039],"class_list":["post-127039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lego","tag-cristiano-ronaldo","tag-lego","tag-lego-editions","tag-lego-group","tag-lionel-messi"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116896109983302476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}