Deel calls on Arsenal to assemble its global squad

Arsenal and global people platform Deel have teamed up for a new campaign that taps into the football club's international fanbase to draw parallels between building a football team and bringing together a global workforce.

Titled "The world is your squad", the campaign stars players from Arsenal's men's and women's teams, including Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Viktor Gyökeres, Martin Ødegaard, Smilla Holmberg, Frida Maanum and Mariona Caldentey.

According to a Deel spokesperson, the partnership reflects the company's global ambitions and gives it an opportunity to connect its platform with football supporters and professionals around the world. Arsenal is also a Deel customer, using its HR platform for workforce management and operations.

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At the heart of the campaign is a nearly one-minute hero film that sees Arsenal's players scattered across different locations and going about their day before receiving a Deel notification calling on the squad to assemble.

The players quickly spring into action, making their way from wherever they are in the world towards London. Interspersed throughout are scenes of Arsenal supporters and fan culture across different countries, spotlighting the global community surrounding the club. 

The film culminates at Emirates Stadium, where the players reunite and prepare to take to the pitch, before closing on the campaign line, "The world is your squad".

Explaining the creative strategy, the spokesperson said the film was designed to bring Deel's proposition to life by showing how businesses can bring people together and build teams that operate across borders.

With Arsenal's players and staff scattered in different locations following the summer, their journey back together as a squad mirrors how Deel helps global teams connect and operate as one, regardless of where their people are based, the spokesperson added.

The fast-paced approach was also intended to make the concept of a global team immediately recognisable to audiences, rather than communicating Deel's proposition solely through a traditional B2B lens.

Launching ahead of the new Premier League season, the hero film will be followed by a wider content series featuring both Arsenal squads across September and October.

The campaign builds on the pair's wider partnership. Deel and Arsenal inked a multi-year sleeve partnership in May, which will see Deel become the club's official sleeve partner from the 2026/27 season. The agreement followed Deel joining Arsenal as its official HR platform partner in December 2025.

The campaign also follows another B2B brand tapping into Arsenal's global reach earlier this year. Airwallex partnered with Arsenal and Academy Award-winning director Spike Lee for "Who are ya?", a two-minute film blending football culture, celebrity storytelling and global finance.

Created by UK creative agency Uncommon, the film sought to frame complex B2B finance through football fandom and community conversation. Directed by and starring lifelong Arsenal supporter Lee, it featured former and current Arsenal players including Thierry Henry, Martin Keown, Rachel Yankey, Viktor Gyökeres and Kai Havertz, alongside Arsenal-supporting actors Aaron Pierre, Jasmine Jobson and Nick Moran.

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