During Luka Grkovic’s first week in his dream role as a model designer for Lego, he wandered around the office and noticed a colleague playing with a tiny football made of Lego. It intrigued him.Growing up in Split, Croatia, Grkovic loved football. He still idolises compatriot Luka Modric, whose AC Milan shirt he wore during his interview with The Athletic. Initially in Billund, a Danish town famous for being the birthplace of Lego bricks, Grkovic worked with the City team, which focuses on real-world themes, and would design police figures and firefighters. But soon his passion and knowledge of football would lead him to another role.In the summer of 2024, the Editions team, a 16-person group which focuses on creating highly collectible products, had begun work on a special product launch to coincide with the men’s 2026 World Cup.“We knew football was a big passion for the targeted audience, which is teens and (children aged) 10-plus. It was the perfect time to join because I was working on a lot of concepts initially doing a lot of different models,” Grkovic, who started working at Lego in late 2024, explained.Last month was the big launch for the figures which feature four of the sport’s biggest names: Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Vinicius Junior and France’s Kylian Mbappe. All four were part of the two-year long process, signing off on their minifigure faces and giving their preference as to what colour boots they wanted to wear.Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronald, Vinicius Jr. and Kylian Mbappe feature as Lego figures (LEGO Group)The start of the process differs from designer to designer. Some start sketching on paper, a computer or tablet; others, like Grkovic, prefer to get on the ground and build with bricks before using technology.“I did the first concepts for the buildable Cristiano Ronaldo figure, and then a lot of different vignettes and different styles. It was a lot exploration for the first three to four months. And then we figured out this is what we’re going to do and started working on the products,” he said.There are at least two bespoke designs per player; minifigures, which have their own plaques — the Ronaldo plaque, for example, has the player’s stats and signature — and bigger, more realistic and expensive versions.The designs range in height, price and number of pieces. The smallest is 490 pieces, while Messi’s celebration set — which, when completed, has the Argentine great in his national colours, raising his arms aloft, fingers pointing skywards — is 1,427 pieces. The cost ranges from £24.99 ($29.99) for the minifigure designs to £159.99 ($199) for that one-of-a-kind Messi celebration.The design process started in the summer of 2024 (LEGO Group)Grkovic was the lead product designer tasked with bringing Ronaldo and Mbappe to the Lego universe.