106,000 bottle caps, 1,000 sq ft: Nirmala College students' giant tribute to Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar

Messi. Ronaldo. Neymar.

For nearly two decades, they have been the faces of world football, inspiring generations of fans and defining an era of the game. As another World Cup unfolds, many supporters are watching it with a bittersweet feeling. This could be the last time these legends grace football's grandest stage.

At Nirmala College in Muvattupuzha, students chose an unusual way to honour the trio. Using almost 1,06,000 discarded soft drink bottle caps, they created a sprawling installation that transforms waste into a tribute to the players who made millions fall in love with football.

Spread across nearly 1,000 square feet, the artwork was conceived and led by Nirmala College alumnus Ajay V John and brought to life by students of the college's Varnasala Club, an art collective that brings together students interested in creative installations and painting.

For Ajay, the project was the result of months of planning.
 "During previous World Cups, flex-board competitions had become very common. I wanted to do something more creative and distinctive," he said.

The idea was to create a large-scale artwork using materials that people usually throw away, while keeping costs to a minimum. Planning began nearly six months ago, with detailed discussions on design, execution and sourcing materials.

Ajay had earlier gained attention during the 2022 FIFA World Cup for creating a 1,046 sq ft portrait of Lionel Messi on Nirmala College's basketball court. Made using 250 chart papers and nearly 1.19 lakh coloured squares, the artwork took almost a year to complete. But large-scale installations are not Ajay's only forte. At just 19, he had earned a place in the India Book of Records 2021 for sketching Mahatma Gandhi inside an eggshell.

A self-confessed Messi fan, Ajay felt the new project should celebrate an entire era of football rather than a single player.

"Messi won the last World Cup, but for Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar, this could be their final World Cup. We wanted to create a tribute to all three of them and dedicate it to football fans everywhere," he said.

For the installation, collecting the raw materials proved to be the biggest challenge. The team began gathering bottle caps about two months before the World Cup. Ajay initially approached shops in Kakkanad, where he works, requesting owners to save discarded caps. Later, the team reached out to beverage distributors, bars in Muvattupuzha and Thodupuzha, and even scrap dealers to secure enough material for the ambitious project.

"The biggest challenge was collecting such a huge number of metal bottle caps within a short period," he said.

The college administration readily backed the idea. Once approved, the Varnasala Club became the project's driving force, mobilising students from across departments.

For nearly two weeks, students worked on the installation under Ajay's guidance. Ajay, who works at Invisor Global in Infopark, took leave from work and stayed on campus throughout the execution phase.

Every aspect of the installation, from the overall design to the placement of individual bottle caps, was meticulously planned. Students were divided into groups and given printed layouts showing exactly how each section had to be assembled. Only when all the completed panels were brought together did the larger portraits emerge.

"I handled all the planning and design. The students executed the work by following the layouts. When all the sheets were aligned together, the final image appeared," Ajay explained.

True to its environmental message, almost every component used in the installation came from discarded sources. Instead of purchasing new boards, the team reused waste construction panels left behind after renovation work on the campus.

"Everything was scrap except for the paint. We used waste materials throughout the project because that was the whole concept," he said.

The result was a celebration of creativity, teamwork and sustainability. And perhaps that is the most fitting tribute of all. Just as discarded materials have been given a second life through art, the memories created by Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar will continue to live on in the hearts of football fans long after the final whistle blows on their World Cup journeys.