Mastercard Makes History With Soccer Match Played In Zero Gravity

Putting together an Avengers-like team of soccer heroes from Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America, Mastercard has just set the Guinness World Record for a first-of-its-kind game that took place in zero-gravity conditions 20,230 feet in the air. 

The company wanted to get fans geared up for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar by taking the sport where it has never gone before and engaged the ‘Highest Altitude Game of Football (Soccer) on a Parabolic Flight’.

Two four-player teams were pit against each other on August 20, 2022, with soccer legend Luis Figo—winner of the 2000 Ballon d’Or—part of the battle to win a place on the historic flight. 

An official adjudicator certified that the star had successfully dribbled the ball across the football field set within an aircraft, with Figo remarking thar the experience of playing the game at such an altitude gave him the same sense of the “electric atmosphere” the sport sparks across cultures and nationalities. 

“Football is not just a game—as the world’s most popular sport, it is a celebration of the human spirit, igniting passion and pride for millions everyday. This is a historic moment for Mastercard as we take the world’s love for the sport to extraordinary new heights,” quipped Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard. 

Watch the incredible zero-gravity match take place below. 

[via LBB Online and Mastercard, cover image via Mastercard]