ESPN COVERS PEOPLE’S PUSKAS CAMPAIGN, WHICH PORTRAYS THE ESSENCE OF VEO

Welcome to Free Agent

Welcome to the first issue of Free Agent –our new paper about everything that’s going on in the Veo universe. This is our celebration of the people and moments in our community. Every quarter, we will collect the most exciting insights and entertaining stories from the last quarter in this format. We hope you enjoy reading our first issue. We begin with a celebration of the heroes of grassroots football.

Back in February, FIFA announced the winner of the Puskás Award to the scorer of the most beautiful goal in 2022. Marcin Oleksy from Poland was the deserved winner with an incredible volley – check it out if you haven’t seen it. However, after we saw the list of nominees packed with well-known names from the world elite, we wondered: Where are all the grassroots players? Aren’t they equally worthy of being celebrated?

Here at Veo, we believe in the power of sport on all levels, amplified by technology. So when we saw a window to celebrate the players and moments that normally don’t get proper recognition, we took the chance.

We wrote FIFA an open letter, asking if they really took all the goals recorded in 2022 into consideration. And we announced our alternative, “The People’s Puskas” – eight bangers selected from the 5.7 million goals recorded with Veo in 2022.

The football community embraced it. In no time, amazing goals flooded our social media channels and inboxes. Some recorded with Veo, some not. All of them tagged #PeoplesPuskas.

Will we see FIFA nominate more grassroots players for the Puskas Award 2023? One thing is for sure, with video technology more accessible at the grassroots level and the nominees that have come in, we will see plenty more belters from every level of the game.

You’ll find the same in Free Agent: Stories from all levels of the game – with a special love for the grassroots.

Because the grassroots players are out there, and they are definitely worthy of being celebrated.

THE 8 CONTENDERS FOR #PEOPLESPUSKAS

1. Kieren Crighton (Forfar United)

2. Oliver Johansen (Kareby Herrfotboll)

3. Jodi Cornwall (Ilminster Ladies FC)

4. Oli Babington (Clevedon Town)

5. Ryan Hardy (Future Elite Academy)

6. Mathilde Tollagsen (Hundvag Idrettslag)

7. Conner Collins (Wessex Wanderers)

8. Zac Allen (David Green FC)