Why did Deadpool wear the Campobasso jersey?

The Multiverse is something about which we know extraordinarily little. How did one of Marvel's main characters - Deadpool -, who is about to return to the big screen in the third installment of the celebrated series, end up wearing the jersey of an Italian Serie C club? We are, of course, talking about Ryan Reynolds, the actor who portrays him and has practically become his alter ego, who donned the Home jersey of Campobasso during the Live with Kelly and Michael morning show, where he was promoting the release of his next film in which he reprises his role as Marvel's most irreverent superhero. Naturally, the Molise club wasted no time, even managing to create a post in collaboration with the Instagram profile of Live with Kelly and Michael, which currently has a thousand times more followers than the Molise club. Reynolds, one of the most famous and beloved actors on the big screen, wearing the jersey of an Italian Serie C team live on TV, opens a kind of wormhole in reality as we know it and makes us reflect on the growing role of football jerseys even overseas. But let's take it step by step.

The first point is to remember how Reynolds is not just the actor who has saved Disney's Superhero Movies in recent years, bringing a breath of fresh air with his sarcastic and politically incorrect portrayal of Deadpool, but he is also - along with his colleague John McElhenny, best known for It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - the owner of the Welsh team Wrexham FC. The story of how they became the presidents of one of the oldest football clubs in England is told in the docuseries produced by the duo, Welcome to Wrexham, a huge public success that also met with great sporting success. Indeed, the old club founded in 1864, thanks to investments from the two Hollywood actors, managed after decades to escape from the limbo of Non-Leagues - everything that in the UK defines non-professional football - to return not only to League Two but finally this season also to League One. This double leap has galvanized a community and demonstrated how an alternative business plan for second-tier teams is not only possible but desirable. The example of Wrexham, its branding, and its economic model show how the tradition and roots of a club can be an added value and not necessarily a brake on the future. So Reynolds is not exactly a newcomer to European football; in fact, in recent seasons, he has repeatedly taken Wrexham on tours in the States, leveraging television fame and facing off against high-level teams from both the Premier League and MLS.

And Reynolds and McElhenny's example is certainly not an isolated one, considering how many American entrepreneurs have decided to invest in European football, not necessarily at the highest levels but often targeting provincial and decaying realities where they try to introduce models borrowed from American sports. In Italy, the case of Venice, owned by Niederauer, Parma with Krause; Como, owned by the Hartono family, one of the richest families in the world, has already been extensively written about. It is no coincidence that all three of these teams moved up to Serie A last season, thus confirming a successful and winning project that has just begun its positive trajectory. But it's also the case of Campobasso, purchased in 2022 by entrepreneur Matt Rizzetta, and which in the last two seasons has made a double leap in category, moving from LegaPro to Serie C. A path that closely resembles that of Wrexham, even if far from the spotlight, and which led the host of Live with Kelly and Michael to gift Reynolds the red and blue jersey of the Wolves on the show. In fact, Mark Consuelos is a close friend of Matt Rizzetta and took advantage of the opportunity for the classic post-match jersey exchange. Only this time, it was in the middle of a Marvel Blockbuster press tour. No problem, the photos immediately went viral, proving that the power of a football jersey transcends borders and barriers and that even Hollywood cannot resist the exotic charm of Italian Serie C. 

Football jerseys are now everywhere, and the interest in them does not seem to be directly tied to allegiance to a team or city. Recently, for example, we have seen Travis Scott wearing a Borussia Monchengladbach jersey, Kim Kardashian an AS Roma one, Drake wearing any sportswear from Napoli, and 21 Savage performing in an Alessandro Del Piero jersey. Well, without having mathematical certainty, it is hard to believe that these celebrities really knew the history and origin of the teams whose colors they wore. What matters is the design, style, fit, technical sponsor, and above all, availability. For this reason, Como, Parma, and soon Venice have chosen to sign with multinational sports brands, capable of selling the club's jerseys even overseas, leveraging the blokecore impact and the recognizability of Italian cities, combining sportswear and touristcore. Waiting for Campobasso to open its flagship store in Los Angeles under the Hollywood sign.