USMNT's Christian Pulisic gets his own anime as AC Milan, eFootball collaborate to create special Rossoneri 'Captain Tsubasa' themed cards

U.S. international Christian Pulisic is getting his own anime -- well, at least an anime-themed card.

With the announcement that eFootball was set to launch a collaboration with Captain Tsubasa in December 2024, a lot was expected and Konami delivered. The move to join hands with the hit manga proved to be the right one as the game shot to fame because of that. Things went so well, that eFootball has officially launched Volume 2 of its collaboration with Captain Tsubasa -- featuring Pulisic's Milan.

That features several special new cards including a host of AC Milan stars with Pulisic leading the charge alongside Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori, and Mike Maignan. They’re not the only ones as recent Santos signing Neymar Jr. gets a special card, one that Yoichi Takahashi-sensei, the artist behind the hit football manga series, illustrates.

This is not the first time a brand has used Pulisic’s popularity in North America as a marketing tool with the former Chelsea star featuring heavily in advertisements since his breakout at Borussia Dortmund. That includes ads with various American restaurants, Volkswagen, Gatorade, and several other brands over the course of his career.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that Konami used theRossoneri and Pulisic for Volume 2 of their collaboration with Captain Tsubasa. Formerly known as PES (Winning Eleven in Japan), eFootball was completely rebranded and turned into a brand new product by Konami in 2021. The game was re-released in the same year as eFootball 2022 and has since been released every year. While it initially struggled to do well, the game has since picked up speed and become a staple in the market.

AC Milan have endured a tough time this season and currently sit eighth on the league table, 19 points behind current league leaders Napoli. That is despite a tight 1-1 draw against cross-city rivals Internazionale with managerial turmoil playing a key role. However, the club has already begun to show signs of improvement and has even signed reinforcements in the winter window in the form of striker Santiago Gimenez from PSV Eindhoven.

The same, however, cannot be said about Pulisic as the American is arguably one of the Rossoneri’s better players this term. The 26-year-old is the club’s second top scorer, with six goals, behind only midfielder Tijjani Reijnders in the league (seven goals), and is tied for the most assists at the club at four.