It doesn’t matter how you referred to it: whether it was ‘Scorpion Football’, ‘The Cage’, or indeed its real title ‘The Secret Tournament’ it’s hard to forget one of the greatest adverts of all-time.

Not only was the Nike masterpiece adding to a building collection of sensational soccer commercials, it set the bar so high we’re still getting quality productions – and not only from the American sports manufacturer.

It had 24 of the world’s best players, eight teams – three players on each side – one shiny silver ball, a container ship, and a cage.

Eric Cantona, armed with a cane, was the master of ceremonies on board, using his showmanship to bring it all together; gasping, cooing and heckling the assembled Nike heroes as they crashed the ball off the metal surrounds aiming for the miniature goal, complete with chained net.

In their attempts to become one of the biggest brands in football, they created the ultimate tournament and executed it with a phenomenal £70milllion campaign, all directed by Monty Python star Terry Gilliam.

It was truly flawless and captured the imaginations of not only kids around the world but adults too, desperate to know who would win.

It’s a line-up to make any football fan froth at the mouth and it didn’t just rely on flair players, with Tutto Bene loaded with Fabio Cannavaro and Rio Ferdinand.

It’s a who’s who of world-class stars and although the addition of Seol-Ki Hyeon may jar, it makes total sense as the advert was being aired ahead of the 2002 World Cup, which was being held in Japan and his homeland of South Korea.

Meanwhile two Dutch stars, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edgar Davids, make it despite the nation not making the tournament, along with Czech Republic ace Tomas Rosicky, and Javier Saviola who were absent too.

When you look through the squads for the World Cup you realise just how stacked Nike were in terms of their football roster; pretty much the only big names at the the tournament not in this advert are David Beckham, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, Zinedine Zidane, Rivaldo, Rui Costa, Michael Ballack, and a clutch of Argentines, including Gabriel Batistuta and Juan Sebastian Veron.

A huge teaser campaign began for the advert as early as March 2002, showing just a pair of boots and a scorpion.

The anticipation was building and Nike wouldn’t disappoint with their post-apocalyptic street football tournament.

As soon as the ship’s horn sounds, with a collection of smaller vessels descending, you know you’re in for a treat; it’s dark and gritty and we’re about to see our screens lit up.

First up we get Triple Espresso against The Onetouchables, a mixture of skill and nonchalance versus fire and force.

A Scholes seal dribble, a wild shot miles over, and a Vieria sliding block are the early highlights before Van Nistelrooy, uncharacteristically, hits the post.

In the end it’s ingenuity which wins the day as Nakata cracks a ball into the corner of the cage and it’s slid home by Totti.

While director Gilliam did make a storyboard for the tournament, the play wasn’t scripted and the players were allowed to showboat adding to the natural look of the whole commercial.

And even though not all 24 players were in the same place at the same time, and some lookalikes were brought in for some of the scenes, it’s such a joy to watch the players free and enjoying their battles.

Henry and Vieira horsing around, as well as later clashes between Ronaldo and compatriot Denilson.

Sylvain Wiltord, an underrated 96-cap France international and Arsenal Invincible, wins the second match for Cerberus – heading in his own rebound after bouncing the ball off the cage.

Match three in the quarter-finals was obviously where it was going to get tasty; Figo, Ronaldo, Carlos, Denilson, Ronaldinho and, er, Hyeon, was always going to give us a skill show.

Brazilian clown prince Denilson, who was also comedy gold in Nike’s 1998 Brazil World Cup advert in the airport, goads his opponents while on his knees, before balancing the ball on his neck and getting Ronaldo to chase him.

Other games were gritty; this has Jogo Bonito all over it… you can’t help but smile. A rainbow flick/scorpion kick hybrid from Carlos ends it all.

Cue comical Denilson face – he was once the world’s most expensive footballer back in 1998, if you didn’t know.

In retrospect, it’s intriguing to see how little Ronaldinho plays a part. Just months later all that would change – just don’t remind David Seaman.

If the third game was all about flair, the last quarter-final is all blood and thunder, and, well, some running and pointing from Rio Ferdinand.

The first few seconds is genuinely just sprinting and tackling. A rabona and a bicycle kick from Equipo del Fuego (or Lazio, if you prefer) pick things up with MC Cantona urging this lawless bunch on.

Another gallop from Ferdinand is fairly meaningless before he’s floored by Mendieta and the Spaniard nets with ease.

Luckily we don’t think Sir Alex Ferguson saw this otherwise that £30m transfer to Manchester United wouldn’t have happened that summer. Shocking.

You can watch the full, unfortunately out of order, advert here

Triple Espresso vs Cerberus opens up the semi-finals and a high-kicking Davids gets it under way (just watching made me pull my groin).

It’s cagey, literally, as the Dutchman then climbs up to offer himself an advantage; Cantona is quick to end it though, thanks to a rap of his cane.

A burst of pace from Henry and a stunning back heel from Nakata and it’s done. The Hounds of Hades are put back in their kennel.

Now it’s time for what, by September 2002, would be Real Madrid vs Lazio.

Early trickery comes from Claudio Lopez, dazzling Carlos. Although perhaps he’d been too busy staring at the hair on show between Mendieta and Crepso.

Ronaldo looks out of puff early doors too, slightly worrying. Soon he and his team-mates are lording it though, the Brazilian even using his not insignificant derriere to aid him in moving the ball on.

Figo finishes it all though, with a back flick into the chains leaving Lazio aces Mendieta and Crespo raging with Lopez, who failed to block.

This gives us an exciting but fairly predictable final of Triple Espresso vs Os Tornados.

All the build-up, the incredible skill, cunning, and devilment… it all comes down to this.

Eric Cantona’s slow walk to the cage opening makes it even more tense but then you know something is up when Henry whispers into Totti’s ear.

At the time, the Arsenal man’s deceitfulness may have surprised us. But knowing how he would later dispatch the Irish in 2010 World Cup qualifying, we can see he was always lacking the class we thought he personified.

Totti drops to ‘tie his shoes’ and once again Os Tornados are far too easily distracted. The ball is released.

Henry uses his teammate as a ladder, inspiring children in every playground across the globe, and plonks a towering header home.

A harsh lesson in football is always that the best don’t always win. This is definitely the case here.

But luckily, given the success of the campaign and the horrifying end to the Scorpion Knockout Tournament, we got the replay we all wanted in another advert.

This time, no cage and first to 100. Everyone could get behind this.

The Real Madrid triumvirate slam themselves into an early lead but it’s tight all the way. Every strike, though, dislodges more and more bolts from the surprisingly weak hull of the container ship.

Bicycle kicks, back heels and no-look passes galore are a visual treat, as well as a trademark long-range outside of the boot curler from Carlos.

Cantona gives us the all-too-familiar cry of ‘next goal wins’ and Figo duly hammers a right foot shot home – only to burst the ship wide open, flooding the pitch and sinking them – although we do thankfully see the superstars swimming away.

Nike continue to make creative and fun football advertising; their ‘Nothing beats a Londoner’ campaign in 2018 was a viral hit and not only got the laughs but inspired a new generation.

The ‘Secret Tournament’ series was one of the first of it’s kind; a high quality showcase of talent and an exhilarating concept which captured the imagination with Nike holding competitions for kids across the globe.

It still holds up too. Despite Rosicky being the last of these men to retire at the end of 2017, these superstars still have such a huge place in the hearts and minds of soccer-loving millennials.

Even stuck in lockdown we immediately want to get down to the local park and see if we can replicate the skills on show in one of the greatest adverts ever – a mere 18 years on.

It retains a mythical aura and it’s hard to believe a similar advert now would be anywhere near as good.

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