Nike K11

The scouting system in Russia is broken. With pro teams ignoring the youth systems in favour of importing foreign superstars, Russia’s next generation doesn’t stand a chance of being scouted.

But if the scouts won’t go to the Korobka, the Korobka will go to the scouts. K11 (Korobka 11) is an innovative scouting program that connects every young player in Russia to the pro scouts, in order to form a team that will take on the pros.

The K11 campaign created ‘Selfie Scouting’, a system that enables Russia’s next generation of footballers to share footage of their skills anytime, anywhere, using OOH and FOTs social channels. Whether players visit one of our state of the art Digital Korobkas - fitted with multiple cameras that stream a live feed to pro scouts – or they film themselves at their local Korobka or in their living room, they can scout themselves and make the team.

After receiving over 6,500 videos, Nike scouts invited 100 of the best street players in Russia to a K11 trial. From there, 22 made the squad and joined a team of professional coaching staff at a state of the art training facility, where they would train like pros for 4 weeks.

The climax of the campaign saw a showdown between the newly formed team of street players, the K11, and Nike’s famous Academy – Live on national TV and YouTube Live, at Spartak Moscow’s stadium.

They fought well, but succumbed to an agonizing 3-2 defeat. However, thanks to the K11, four players earned trials at the Nike Academy, with 2 now playing full time in London.

Since then, Nike Russia have opened a Moscow Academy, dedicated to finding the best young Russian players, no matter their background. And the search for the 2017 K11 has already begun.