FIFA 20 launched its street mode by celebrating players who do it 'wrong'

Mark the worldwide launch of FIFA 20 globally, introducing street football through the new Volta mode.

'Wrong Breaks New Ground': football advances through people who play it wrong, so the launch film celebrates rule-breakers in stadium, street and game.

A 90-second film helmed by Top Boy director Yann Demange starring Eden Hazard, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Vinícius Jr, Megan Rapinoe, street innovator Lisa Freestyle and boxer Anthony Joshua, plus 'The Groundbreakers' story series across a 360 campaign.

The film anchored FIFA 20's worldwide launch and gave Volta Football its narrative debut; the material reports no sales figures.

For the worldwide launch of FIFA 20, EA Sports and adam&eveDDB built a global campaign around a contrarian idea: football's progress has always come from people who do things 'wrong'. The 90-second film — helmed by Yann Demange, the director of Top Boy — celebrates players who defy conventional wisdom in the stadium, in the street and in the game.

The cast was chosen to embody the thesis across all three arenas: superstars Eden Hazard, Raheem Sterling, Jadon Sancho, Vinícius Jr and Megan Rapinoe from the stadium, street-football innovator Lisa Freestyle from the blacktop, and boxer Anthony Joshua. The film ties directly to FIFA 20's headline feature, Volta Football, which brought street football into the game so players could 'play their own way and create like never before'.

The 360 campaign also included 'The Groundbreakers', a series of stories showcasing innovators from stadium to street. Joint CEO Mat Goff summed up the positioning: there has always been a 'right' way to do things in football, but the FIFA community keeps making and breaking its own rules — 'wrong is the new right'.

The strategy maps a real product change (Volta street mode) onto a cultural truth about football's innovators, so the ad explains the feature by side-stepping feature-speak.

Casting spans the exact play surfaces the game now covers — stadium stars, a street freestyler — making the roster itself the argument.

A prestige director (Demange) signals the brand's cultural ambition beyond games advertising.

It's a rare launch campaign built on dissent rather than skill montages.

When a product adds a new way to play, cast the people who already play that way in real life — the feature borrows their credibility instead of explaining itself.

'Wrong Breaks New Ground' launched with FIFA 20 in September 2019; EA and adam&eveDDB's later FIFA collaborations — the GMR insole, the AFC Richmond and Ultimate Team campaigns — followed the same games-culture direction.