Marcel Desailly
THEY say good things come in threes and if recent events are anything to go by, it seems that the saying is true! I have just spent three very enjoyable days at my sports facility in Accra, where I have had the immense pleasure of working alongside three absolute legends of African football – Rigobert Song, Jay Jay Okocha and Kalusha Bwalya.
Together we have been filming for the Guinness Football Challenge, which, I’m delighted to say, will be back on TV screens very soon for its second season.
Like all lovers of the beautiful game, I was a huge fan of the first series which is why I was so delighted to be asked to be involved in the show’s new season.
It’s very flattering and great fun to be working alongside such greats as Jay Jay, Rigobert and Kalusha and I’m honoured that the Lizzy Sports Complex was chosen as the location for the filming. It’s been a real pleasure to host both the Legends and the team from the GUINNESS Guinness Football Challenge.
If you’ve never seen the show, it’s all about achieving greatness by combining football brains and football brawn to overcome trivia and physical challenges as teams shoot for glory and the cash prizes on offer.
As Legends, our role is to show the contestants how best to take on the physical challenges, and having spent the last three days filming them I’ve got to admit that some are pretty tough! We gave them our best shot but I’m really hoping the contestants don’t end up showing us up with their skills!
We also spent some time making the Guinness Football Challenge
viral and all I can say is if the result is anywhere near as much fun as we had filming it, then audiences everywhere are in for a treat! And you probably won’t be surprised to know that we ended the final day doing what we love the most.
Wherever you find a group of ex-footballers and a ball, there’s a pretty high chance some kind of game will happen – so we challenged some of the media and crew toa game of 4-a-side, which was great fun. The other teams put up a good challenge, but I’m delighted to say that we were on fire!
All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable three days. It was great to pull the boots on once again alongside the other guys and now I can’t wait for the show to start so we can see all the contestants in action.
And of course I’m especially excited about the Legends Special episode at the end of the series where Rigobert, Jay Jay, Kalusha and myself get partnered with the top scoring consumers who have been playing the Guinness Football Challenge game on their mobile handsets.
We’ll be showing off our fancy footwork and they’ll be showing the nation just how much they know about football! If you want to be in with a chance of playing the game with us, make sure you sign up to m.guinnessvip.com. I need a good partner as I’m determined to show the other Legends how it should be done – so get playing! Please remember to drink responsibly, strictly 18/21+.