It’s no longer just about matchday. Fans crave 24/7 football entertainment; in their pocket, on their screen, and in their ears. And football clubs have listened. The global quality of social media accounts has grown exponentially over the last few years. Daring, socially important, funny, clever, and right on the zeitgeist.
Across the globe, our team of journalists and social creators are continually sharing these clubs around the network, highlighting the amazing work of social teams from Brazil to Berlin, Birmingham to Brisbane.
GOAL Social Superstars 2022 recognises the posts from these clubs that stopped us in our tracks on Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and more. The ones that we shared with our friends, family, and now you, the global GOAL fanbase.
Each month, a list of five candidates will be put to the vote. From that. A group winner will emerge who will challenge for the number one spot at the end of the year.
The first instalment showcased Flamengo's Stranger Things mashup, Watford putting a positive spin on their relegation and Roma's brilliant use of their social media channels to help find missing children globally.
Here are the five entries for edition two...
BETIS DANCE TO ROSALIA'S TUNE
Apparently, Rosalia's tune 'Despecha' has blown up in Spain, and the club's social team thought it would be a good idea to invite their young fans, former players, mascot and even stewards to perform the 'Despecha' dance at their Estadio Benito Villamarin.
@realbetisbalompie ¡Conseguido el @TikTok más grande en un estadio al son de @rosalia en el Benito Villamarín! ✅💃💚 #betis #motomami #motomamichallenge #motobetis #tiktokfootballacademy
♬ sonido original - Real Betis Balompié
WHY WE LOVE THIS
This is a really smart and simple way of piggy-backing on something that is already viral and spinning it into something for your supporters to engage with and enjoy. There ain't nothing like a bit of fan engagement, and the result will make it difficult not to crack a smile.
Consciously or otherwise, the video also portrays the Villamarin as a truly inclusive venue to watch a game of football and reinforces Betis' status as the neutral's favourite La Liga side.
Where can we buy a pair of those sunglasses?
SAO PAULO'S CARTOON KIT DROP
If we're honest, there haven't been enough anime x football crossovers since the days of Captain Tsubasa, but a Brazilian club has gone some way to remedying that.
Throwing it back to their 1992 Intercontinental Cup final triumph over the mighty Barcelona in Tokyo, Sao Paulo announced their new third kit in style - with match-winner and club legend Rai taking centre stage...
WHY WE LOVE THIS
The mystique of the opening portion of the video is instantly engaging, with a cloaked figure making his way through what appears to be a Japanese restaurant. But the main hook is undoubtedly the cartoon interludes - recreating Rai's match-winning brace in the historic comeback victory for Sao Paulo over Barca 30 years ago.
The animation for the second goal - a peach of a strike into the top corner from a free-kick routine - is particularly cool, with the Barcelona wall and goalkeeper rising as giants in front of a stone castle before Rai pings it top bins. Lovely.
Granted, the use of anime is a slightly tired trope when it comes to promoting something that is even vaguely related to Japan or Japanese culture, and the shirt itself is a tad underwhelming, but you can't begrudge Sao Paulo for this slick effort.
CREMONESE GO BACK TO THE FUTURE
Newly-promoted Cremonese snatched a draw against Atalanta in Serie A in September courtesy of Emanuele Valeri's late strike.
Although impressive, the result itself didn't seem all that significant, but the club's social team spotted a Doc Brown (of Back to the Future fame) lookalike during the wild celebrations - and boy, did they run with it...
WHY WE LOVE THIS
Another little bit of nostalgia, and a prime example of how there is viral potential in seemingly the least insignificant piece of footage; in this case, a man whose head is bald on top with long, flowing grey hair on the back and sides, walking across the shot and seemingly disengaged from the chaos around him.
Cremonese have created an artform in just how bootleg this video is, with Valeri's head crudely cut and pasted onto Marty McFly's as he plays the role of sidekick - the idea being that Doc came back to the future to help Le Tigre to a late point.
Whisper it quietly, but the unsuspecting protagonist of the clip doesn't even look that much like the cult character. Brilliant, nonetheless.
AJAX'S NO-NONSENSE ANNOUNCEMENT
We are surely not too far away from an award specifically for the best new signing social media announcement, and Ajax riffed off that as they confirmed a new contract for CEO Edwin van der Sar - the man who makes the signings at for the Amsterdam giants.
WHY WE LOVE THIS
It's nice to know there are football clubs out there who have the self-awareness to accept that announcement videos have gotten a tad ridiculous in recent years as teams vie for likes and retweets.
It's always fun to see football legends' poor attempts at acting, and after a smattering of that dry Dutch humour, the final shot is gloriously Office-esque as the production team watch Van der Sar walk off, stunned into silence.
BURNLEY'S SIXTH SENSE FOR SOCIAL
If there were an award for new signing announcements, then Burnley would almost certainly be taking the accolade for their efforts in 2022.
The Clarets made light of their relegation throughout the summer as a raft of new arrivals checked in at Turf Moor, with references ranging from WWE to The Simpsons - drawing applause gifs from fans and neutrals alike. Their social team rounded things off with this video for loan signing Halil Dervisoglu on deadline day...
WHY WE LOVE THIS
It's difficult to go wrong with a solid Hollywood reference in an announcement video - especially when it's produced as seamlessly as this.
Tweaking Cole Sear's famously creepy "I see dead people" line, the video neatly bookends Burnley's summer of social hits as well as swiftly running through the lot, and introduces another new face to boot.
Give the admin a raise.
