Just in time for Lionel Messi’s birthday (June 24), the inspiring short film Messi & Me is being released across major VOD streaming platforms. The 30-minute documentary that wowed audiences at K+S New York 2018 can now be streamed on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, Xbox, and KickingandScreening.com.

K+S is partnered with Giant Interactive on the VOD distribution.

Messi & Me tells the story of Matt Eliason, a former standout college soccer player at Northwestern University. In the summer of 2013, he was a regular guy living and working in Chicago. Undrafted by Major League Soccer, he had largely moved on from the game.

Then he got invited to play in a nationally televised exhibition match featuring global icon Lionel Messi and many other world soccer stars.

What happened on that day at Chicago’s Soldier Field is the stuff of Hollywood. Eliason scored a stunning bicycle-kick goal that stole the show.

Messi & Me is the story of what happened next, as Eliason decided to try one last time to make his pro soccer dreams come true. He gave up the 9-to-5 life, got back into playing shape, and signed with a club in Iceland.

“Messi & Me is the kind of film that thrills soccer fans and non-soccer fans alike – everyone dreams of their ‘Messi & Me’ moment,” says Kicking + Screening’s Rachel Markus. “Which is why we are thrilled to be helping it find an audience. Matt’s moment with Messi will go down in history, but it’s his afterstory that deserves to be remembered. He chased his dream! Hopefully, this film will inspire others to do that, too.”

Messi & Me is directed by Renny Maslow and produced by Jake Abraham, with executive producers Tim Lenahan (longtime head coach of Northwestern’s men’s soccer team) and Gregg Latterman.