All football fans, as teenagers and perhaps even as adults, have dreamed of designing their favourite team’s shirt. Many have even done it, using more or less sophisticated techniques or software. Well, now this (inevitable, wonderful) moment is becoming a potential reality. And it is thanks to Lenovo, which has launched “Your Club Your Canvas”, a global initiative aimed at young creatives that brings designers, artists and filmmakers inside local football clubs. These aspiring professionals will effectively be entrusted with the role of official creative directors for a season.
Yes, you read that right: thanks to this Lenovo initiative, some clubs will have creative directors who will be able to revolutionize their image. Starting, naturally, with the design of the shirt, all the way to the narrative linked to the local area, the community, and therefore the fans. Who, for so-called “provincial” football, should be considered a vital force. For Italy, the club involved in the project is Treviso FBC, back in Serie C – thanks to winning the Serie D championship – after 13 years and, in 2006, the protagonist of an unforgettable season in Serie A. The new ownership and its strong bond with the local fanbase are perfect ground on which to cultivate interesting new developments, and in this sense the project with Lenovo is a great opportunity. Both for the club and for the person who will be chosen as its new creative director – the names will be announced in the coming days.
The project is part of Lenovo’s Work For Humankind platform and features the participation of selected clubs in Brazil, China, Italy and the United States, all united by strong roots in their respective communities. In particular: in Brazil, Grêmio Osasco Audax was chosen, a club committed to the growth of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds; in China, the choice fell on Regimen United FC, which combines football, art and street culture with AI-based creative workshops; in the United States, the selected clubs were Ballard FC and Salmon Bay FC, active in the development of women’s football and inclusion.
Becky G, the international pop star and co-owner of Angel City FC, has been chosen as the initiative’s Global Ambassador. She will accompany and support each creative director in creating a limited-edition shirt capable of representing the soul of the club and of the people who live it every day. Lenovo and its technologies based on Artificial Intelligence will play a central role thanks to advanced creation tools and devices that will support the creative directors in sharing the stories, traditions and values of the local area, transforming them into a symbolic object. Just like the new match shirts, which will be put on sale and generate revenues that will be fully reinvested in the participating clubs and in initiatives supporting local communities. In this way, the impact of “Your Club Your Canvas” will go beyond the pitch and the sporting season.