Mastercard Launches '22 Languages' Campaign Starring Football Icon Pele

In a world divided more and more by prejudices, Pelé reminds us how a common passion can unite us all, no matter our nationality

With over 70 different nationalities gracing the field in this season’s UEFA Champions League, Mastercard launches '22 Languages' – a campaign that reminds us how a common passion can help unite people who think they have all the best reasons to hate each other. 

As an Official Sponsor of the UEFA Champions League, Mastercard invited 22 football aficionados from around the world - complete strangers to each other - to play a football match. Divided into two teams, the players had to put aside their decades long rivalries – and we know how deeply rooted those can be in football – in order to work together for a common goal: a chance to win 11 Champions League tickets.

Putting prejudices aside wasn’t an easy thing to do between a German and a British, an Argentinian and a Brazilian or between an Italian and a French (to name a few of the situations)…

Watch the film, including the moment when Pelé waited for them all in the locker room, tickets in hand.

'22 Languages' is the first global launch of Mastercard’s new platform #StartSomethingPriceless which encourages people to share their pledges to pursue a passion or purpose, effect change, and lift one another up.