Adidas, Beats and Nike: The battle for the 'best World Cup TV advert'

As the excitement builds ahead of the World Cup's big kick-off, off the pitch brand execs are embroiled in their very own battle for the title of 'best World Cup TV commercial'.

ADIDAS - "HOUSE MATCH"

Adidas kicked things off last week - pulling out all the stop for their epic "House Match" ad featuring big-name quartet David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Gareth Bale and Lucas Moura.

Set inside "Beckingham Palace," it sees the two elder statesmen Beckham and Zidane challenge their younger counterparts to a 2v2 match after growing tired of watching them playing video games.

Watch the brilliant ad below:

BEATS - "THE GAME BEFORE THE GAME"

Beats by Dre also launched their World Cup advertising campaign last week, and it too, failed to disappoint.

The film stars Neymar and a host of other footballers, including Daniel Sturridge, Mario Gotze, Jozy Altidore, Luis Suarez, Chicharito, Sydney Leroux, Thierry Henry...and Rio Ferdinand as they pump up the portable jams while preparing themselves to do work.

This is apparently 'The Game Before the Game', as the ad is titled. Cameos from random friends of Beats by Dre like Nicki Minaj, LeBron James, ESPN's Stuart Scott, Lil Wayne and Serena Williams are also sprinkled in as everyone prepares to be wowed by the World Cup.

NIKE - THE LAST GAME

If the previous two weren't cool enough, Nike also released their own unique offering in the last few days

"The Last Game," the animated short features all of their top footballers and tells the story of how players are phased out by clones capable of footballing perfection.

After losing their jobs to their clones, the players (voiced by actors) are all forced to take up regular jobs — Zlatan Ibrahimovic mans a newsstand, Neymar and David Luiz work in a hair salon, Wayne Rooney as a fisherman and Cristiano Ronaldo as a human mannequin in a shop window.

The Brazilian Ronaldo won't stand for this though, and convinces them all to unite for one last game against the clones. The result is pretty great.

MCDONALD'S - GOL!

Meanwhile, official World Cup sponsor McDonald's has put together a spot of their own, this featuring the juggling and trick-shot skills of everyday people of all ages. We'll let you make up your own mind if the stunts are real or not...

There we have it. Four brands. Four awesome ads. It's surely only a matter of time before World Cup commercials start being nominated for Academy Awards!

For more World Cup videos, check out our Top 10 series below:

Original posts by Dirty Tackle (Yahoo Sports)