Sparta Prague goes viral with Mr. Bean celebrating Champions League entry

Czech football team AC Sparta Prague secured a spot in the Champions League, the top competition in European football, with a victory over Malmö earlier this week. The Champions League appearance will be the club's first in nearly 20 years, and a celebratory video featuring Mr. Bean has gone viral on social media, racking up millions of views over the past few days.

The video, posted shortly after Sparta’s qualification was secured, utilizes footage from the classic 1997 film Bean, the first theatrical movie starring the popular character played by Rowan Atkinson. In the clip, Mr. Bean proudly discovers he has a seat in the first class section of a flight and flexes over those in economy.

Sparta Prague adapted this scene by inserting their club’s branding, with Mr. Bean representing the team and the first-class ticket their Champions League entry. The economy class seats symbolize their past rivals, including Shamrock Rovers, FCSB, Malmö, and most notably, Galatasaray Istanbul.

The Mr. Bean video quickly went viral with over 7 million views on X (formerly Twitter) on Sparta Prague's English-language X account, including a whopping 5.4 million views within 24 hours of posting.

It has also received significant engagement on Instagram, where it has surpassed 2.5 million views, making it one of the most successful posts in Sparta Prague's history. Many of the social media views come from outside the Czech Republic.

The video’s impact was particularly noted among Turkish football fans, who were amused and, in some cases, frustrated by the depiction of Galatasaray being relegated to a lower class. The reaction underscores the ongoing rivalry between Sparta Prague and Galatasaray, which dates back to recent encounters in European competitions.

Sparta Prague's marketing team was prepared for the possibility of a viral response. According to Petr Horčička, head of content at the club, while some elements of the campaign were planned, much of the execution was spontaneous. This particular Mr. Bean video has become a meme template recently, utilized by other football clubs in similar contexts.

"I've seen this Mr. Bean video recycled several times by different clubs, and returning to the Champions League after 19 years was a great opportunity for us to use it as well," Horčička told iDnes.cz.

Up next for Sparta Prague will be the first round of the 36-team league phase in this season's Champions League, which kicks off on September 17. The Czech team will have eight matches through January against Inter Milan, Manchester City, Atlético Madrid, and other opponents; a full schedule will be announced later today.