RIO DE JANEIRO -- Nike's Brazilian division is developing a soccer reality show for local teens with indie producer RGB.
"Joga 10" (Play 10) is skedded to air in May on Brazil's fourth-ranked net TV Bandeirantes.
Title is a reference to the No. 10 shirt in Brazil, which soccer legend Pele wore during his career and is reserved for a team's best player.
" 'Joga 10' will be Nike's first soccer reality show," says Nike's Brazilian division communications manager Katia Gianone.
Nike co-sponsored another soccer reality show, "Camino a la gloria" (The Road to Glory), in Argentina.
It provided soccer equipment for the Cuatro Cabezas' format, which has been sold to other countries.
"Nike's involvement with 'Joga 10' is completely different from the one with 'Camino,' " says Gianone, who would not go into details about "Joga."
"Camino" follows 20 young people as they vie for the chance to play soccer professionally.
Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo, the controversial head coach of the Brazilian Team in the 1970, 1974 and 1998 World Cup Finals, will be the jury head on "Joga 10."
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com