MADRID, March 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Argentine player for Paris Saint-Germain Leo Messi stars in the latest Mastercard campaign, forming a team of ‘Leos’, several children who bear the same name, to present the new Mastercard kit that will be worn by the ‘Player Escorts’, the children who They accompany the footballers at the start of the Champions League matches.
“Mastercard brought together several boys and girls from all over the world with the player to discover that they are all called Leo. It is a beautiful tribute to his impact, not only in the sports world but in the daily lives of thousands of fans who have decided to name their children after the soccer star,” the company explained in a statement.
As explained by some parents of these ‘Leo’ children, adjectives such as “power, strength or sacrifice” are identified with the player’s name. Within the framework of the campaign, Leo Messi himself posed with his ‘Leos’ team.
In Spain, a Leo is born every three hours, and its popularity is set to rise, with a quarter (28%) of people saying they would consider naming a future child ’10’.
Mastercard has analyzed two decades of INE data on the names of babies born in Spain, where there are more than 24,600 children named Leo since Messi burst onto the sports scene in 2004, with more than 2,800 born with this name in 2021 alone. Leo is currently the fourth most popular boy’s name.