14 July 2023
The first Juventus Freestyle challenge ended on Friday afternoon at the Allianz Stadium. It was a special event broadcast live on TikTok, and one which featured five of the world's best freestylers, after involving a huge number from across five continents and 29 different countries in the first selection phase.
The final battle brought Adonias Fonseca (Brazil), Ben Nuttall (England), Javi Zoltan Liptak (Hungary), Yoanna Dallier (France) and Javier Sanz Aguilar (Spain) to Turin. Watching on, and impressed, were the three judges: Paul Pogba, Nicolo Fagioli and Dean Huijsen.
In the end, it was Adonias who triumphed, freestyler with more than 4 million followers who impressed the distinguished panel of judges by winning with a triple "10" in the final performance. That score was enough to beat Ben Nuttall by just one point.
Adonias won a one-year contract with Juventus and will be involved throughout the upcoming 2023/24 season in engagement activities that will make him a key feature of the club's social channels. This is an unprecedented initiative in the world of soccer.
Adonias, 28, from Mirai (in the surrounding area of Rio de Janeiro), found out about the contest through TikTok and immediately thought it was the opportunity of a lifetime. He entered, and he won, fulfilling a dream.
"It is an honor for me to be part of Juventus," he said. "It is a dream come true and I promise to give my best to make Juventus fans happy. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I have no words to thank those who gave me this opportunity.
"I am looking forward to making fantastic content for Juventus' social media and I hope the fans can accept me as a true Bianconero."
Mike Armstrong, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer of Juventus, also attended the event: "We are the first soccer club to launch an event related to the freestyle market in this way. It was great to see these talents from different parts of the world perform. Now, for the new season, we will have the support of a top-level freestyler with whom we can develop new content."
