Striker! Facebook Watch scores Cristiano Ronaldo
In what might be one of the biggest media mashups the world has ever seen, footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is working on a teen soccer show for Facebook’s new VOD service.
According to Deadline, the new scripted drama series on Facebook Watch will follow a small-town girls soccer team in upstate New York whose ability to achieve its goals through teamwork and friendship inspires the local community to transcend the racial, ethnic, and class differences that divide it.
The Real Madrid soccer star will be kicking it with a new team and will join the ranks of Memphis Beat creators Liz Garcia and Josh Harto who will executive produce with Ronaldo. The soccer player believes his mission in the project is to share the life values and inspire the crew with the story of his career, sharing with The Hollywood Reporter:
The story of my life has many similarities with the highs and lows the girls varsity soccer team will face in the series. It’s about values, challenges, friendship, difficult times, hard work, solidarity, tensions, and harmony. In a word — it’s about life.
It’s a solid tackle from Facebook, as the tech company joins the ranks of Apple to get in on the increasingly strong VOD market. With so many soccer obsessives across the globe, there are no doubt millions who would tune in to a sports show produced by none other than Ronaldo himself.
The new service has already rolled out high-quality streams of soccer games for its users and announced the first season of new dark сomedy series Queen America, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago).
It’s also a smart move from Ronaldo, who’s currently leaning heavily towards the world of new media. The player also announced a partnership with Indian graphic novel and animation producer Graphic India for Striker Force 7 – an entertainment property that will span animation, comics, publishing, gaming, and digital content.
It looks like Ronaldo’s determined to keep building his empire in new industries – with the green light from Facebook Watch, there are no red cards on the horizon for this soccer superstar.
