Most musicians would give something to have international soccer stars akin to Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Beckham seem on display accompanied by their songs, however Swedish pop star Hakan Hellstrom has accomplished one thing presumably even higher.

Somewhat than lure among the most well-known faces within the recreation to star in a brand new movie that includes his music, Hellstrom acquired inventive by assembling a workforce of lookalikes (with some extra convincing than others) for the 11-minute brief titled “Who Desires To Be Your Pal When Your Star Fades.”

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The inspiration for the video was an idea initially steered by pal and director Filip Nilsson, who Hellstrom jokes is “obsessed” with lookalikes.

Within the movie, Hellstrom is the coach of a five-a-side workforce made up of gamers referred to as “Ronalda,” “Mezzi,” “Zlaatan” and two “Baeckhams.” The 49-year-old multi-instrumentalist is seen driving the workforce round in a minivan, instructing them about ways over dinner and drilling them into match health regardless of one or two being visibly past their peak as they put together for a giant match in opposition to a workforce of Hellstrom lookalikes.

The movie depicts the relentless nature of life as a footballer and the obstacles gamers of all ranges and ages routinely face: self-doubt, boredom, loneliness, lack of kind, being below fixed critique and, most fittingly of all, impostor syndrome. Fortunately, by banding collectively and dealing with issues in unison, Hellstrom’s plucky clan of clones finally overcome their varied hardships and kind a powerful unit.

Whereas a few the lookalikes do the job in knowledgeable capability (‘Ronalda’ is performed by soccer freestyler and Ronaldo double Saki, and one of many Beckhams, Mark Woodward, has the Instagram deal with “davidbeckhamlookalike,”) Hellstrom made positive his workforce of famous person impersonators weren’t overly lifelike to offer what’s in any other case a reasonably life like portrayal of the world of newbie soccer a light-hearted and surreal high quality.

“I’ve all the time beloved soccer and music, and he [Nilsson] knew I wished to educate a workforce of misfit children in a music video,” Hellstrom tells ESPN. “So when he introduced the concept to do some type of sport musical with me as a coach for Zlatan, a pair of Beckhams, Messi and Ronaldo, it was inconceivable to say no.”

Hellstrom, who has had two No. 1 singles and eight albums go gold or platinum in his homeland, has real-world expertise of soccer teaching, having performed and managed in an newbie capability.

“I began enjoying soccer and drums on the similar time once I was 10 years outdated,” he says. “I shortly seen that I might combine up the 2 actions. In each circumstances, it required 100% dedication. It was the identical type of battle, in a wierd approach. Each issues contain rhythm, dedication, teamwork, ardour and battle.”

As a real-life coach, Hellstrom does what he can to encourage his gamers’ creativeness in addition to practice them and decide the workforce.

“I ponder rather a lot in regards to the psychological side,” he says. “Strengthening the gamers. The significance of constructing objectives, even when one feels their time is over. Discovering new aims and persevering with to struggle for one thing. I performed the ‘Rocky’ theme earlier than each match to remind the gamers that there is a lot that is attainable. It is a fictional story. However among the gamers appeared to consider it was a documentary. That was good.”

The musician additionally revealed that he tried to supply a couple of extra lookalikes to pad out his squad however was unable to efficiently monitor down doppelgangers for a few the sport’s greatest idols.

“We checked out [Diego] Maradona and Pele, however their lookalikes have been additionally useless, sadly. We additionally had an extended dialog with a [Kylian] Mbappe lookalike, however there was one thing with the youthful gamers that wasn’t as attention-grabbing as with the extra senior ones.”

“I wished to make a heat and enjoyable portrait of a workforce of superstars when the height of their careers has handed. To do this, we employed the second-best we might discover — their lookalikes — and all these guys turned out to be essentially the most great individuals.”

His model of Swedish famous person Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pierre Luchtenveld, hails from Germany, however Hellstrom actually hit it off with the stand-in for his nationwide footballing hero.

“For me as a Swede, it was surreal to be subsequent to faux Zlatan, a participant I adopted all through his profession,” Hellstrom stated. “Possibly in the future I’ll meet the true one, however till then it is nice to know that I can chat with the German one sometimes. He’s really coming to my present in Stockholm in August.

“All gamers touched my coronary heart. They’re great in several methods. I’m glad to have the chance to educate these fragile boys.”

Hellstrom has been happy with the response to “Who Desires To Be Your Pal When Your Star Fades” as many individuals have chimed with the message his story goals to inform.

“[It’s been] very constructive,” he says. “I consider individuals perceive the concept and the sensation behind it. I additionally assume that some have been very shocked, nevertheless it’s simply enjoyable to do surprising issues.”