World Cup: adidas releases Dream ad, featuring exclusive Kanye West track, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez (Video)

Sporting companies are releasing ads for the 2014 World Cup left and right. This new one from adidas will debut during halftime of the UEFA Champions League Final today. Despite having not aired on television it has already been watched nearly 300,000 times on YouTube in less than a day.

It is easy to see once you watch the ad, which features some of the biggest names in soccer, and the World Cup, like: Lionel Messi, Dani Alves, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mesut Özil, Luis Suárez, Robin van Persie and Xavi.

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The ad was directed by “City of God” director Fernando Meirelles and co-directed by Cassiano Prado. It also features an exclusive track from rapper Kanye West that sounds very similar to something that would’ve been featured on his latest album Yeezus. After seeing this ad Nike might regret letting Kanye West walk away.

“Coming from the world of movies, it was exciting to step into this whole new world of football,” Meirelles said in Q&A. “We had to be prepared to do anything at any time which meant stepping out of my comfort zone, but it was certainly a great experience testing myself with an exciting new challenge.”

For Meirelles it presented several challenges, the first of which was working with a group of the sport’s most talented players.

“I have worked with many big stars in my career, but it was certainly a new experience working with global football stars,” Meirelles said. “These guys have been treated almost like gods, but it was really refreshing to see that many are still able to keep their feet on the ground and not lose their humanity. I had great experiences with players including Xavi, Messi, Suarez and many others.”

The overall theme of the campaign is “all or nothing.” While every team is guaranteed three games in the group stage, the competition to get out of the groups leaves little to no room for margin. There are several groups you could argue are worth of the label of “group of death” where winning becomes a premium, especially once you enter the knock-out rounds. For Meirelles he was tasked with capturing this in roughly a minute long ad.

“To me the thing that stands out about ‘all in or nothing’ is that the World Cup is not about individual players or nations, but about the whole world becoming one,” Meirelles said. “Many ads in football focus on the global stars and their experiences. I wanted to take the World Cup wider, to show it is an all-encompassing tournament which unites the world. This is something which I tried to capture in the advert.”

The other connection between Meirelles and the World Cup is the fact that he is a Brazilian and his country is hosting the tournament. Being a soccer fan it has

“As a Brazilian, football has always played a huge role in my life. The World Cup in particular is always a huge moment for all of Brazil,” Meirelles said. “These are the moments that all Brazilians are united looking to the same direction, with their hearts beating in sync. It’s a great feeling recognizing Brazil as one nation.”

The ad truly is incredible, you can watch it below. If you’re curious about who Meirelles is rooting for in the World Cup he had a pretty blunt answer.

“As a Brazilian, there is only one answer for me!”

You can listen to the entire Kanye West track on SoundCloud here. Let us know what you think of the campaign in the comments below.