England beat Tunisia on Monday night with Stevenage’s Ashley Young in the side, but the town has another World Cup representative.
Stevenage FC youth player Leke Drake, 10, stars in the music video for the official tournament song.
Live It Up by Nicky Jam – featuring Will Smith and Era Istrefi – has had more than 36 million views on YouTube, with Leke donning a Brazil shirt and showing off his skills.
The youngster lives in Welwyn Garden City with his mum Emma, who explained more about the video.
“We found out that Leke was going to be in the video about a week before it was filmed,” she said.
“It was filmed about five minutes from Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham and he got to meet footballer Willian.”
Unfortunately, Leke didn’t get to meet Will Smith or Ronaldinho – who won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002 and also appears in the video – but he was more than happy meeting the Chelsea star who has appeared in Russia this summer for Brazil.
“The rest of the cast in the music video flew out to Budapest the next day so he didn’t get to meet Will Smith, but he was more excited about meeting Willian,” said Emma.
“For the video, he had to run up and down with the ball, do some tricks and dance with Willian. They also had a kickabout together which was really nice.”
The video for the techno dance track – produced by Diplo – also features clips from previous tournaments, including Ronaldinho’s free-kick that knocked England out in 2002 and Mario Gotze’s winning goal for Germany from the 2014 final.
When Emma asked Leke if he wanted some photos to show his friends, he had a simple response.
“I asked him if he wanted me to take photos to show his friends, but he said they can just watch the video,” she said.
“When he told them about it they didn’t believe him so he just showed them and they were very jealous.
“He is football mad and really enjoyed the whole experience. I am very proud of him.”
Leke is also progressing well with Stevenage FC and could be a future star in the making.
“He’s been with Stevenage since the age of eight and likes to play up front,” added Emma.
“He’s recently signed a new contract with the club so he’s doing really well and he loves it there.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here