Starring Alfonso Herrera, star of Latin America Television and Film, series’ fall premiere part of 2011-2012 season

ESPN Deportes announced today its first original scripted series, El Diez, a 10-part dramedy that chronicles the life of a professional soccer player who arrives to Mexico City in search of glory. Starring Alonso Herrera, ex-member of famed music group RBD and star of Latin American television & film, along with Ernesto Loera, Mauricio Quintana and Joaquin Cosio (“Quantum of Solace”), the series is slated to premiere the fall of 2011.

 “We are very excited to bring the first ever scripted-program to ESPN Deportes’ lineup,” said Lino García, general manager of ESPN Deportes. “El Diez is an expansion of our network’s commitment to deliver sports related content to our audience, from news and information and top sporting events, to our very first series. El Diez, with its impressive cast and top-notch production values, will offer our viewers original, culturally relevant content not ever seen on a Spanish-language sports network.”

El Diez takes viewers on the journey of Chava (Alfonso  Herrera), a young soccer player from Ocotlán, Jalisco whose performance in the Sub-20 World Cup makes him an overnight soccer star sought out by every major soccer club in the world. Chava arrives to the capital alongside his childhood friend Jesus “El Cremas” Ramirez (Ernesto Loera) and his manager Gonzalo Goméz (Mauricio Quintana) who battles night and day for him to become the best, until he signs Chava with Mexico’s prestigious Atlético Nacional, owned by Javier Ruvalcaba (Joaquin Cosio).

As Chava quickly attains fame and success, he is constantly hounded by the media, including Ximena Calleja, an attractive, ambitious and smart journalist who doesn’t let anyone into her personal life, until she meets him. Throughout his journey, Chava deals with the ups and downs of being a superstar and the enormous burden of fans’ expectations. He struggles with personal problems and almost leaves it all behind, but his friends intervene just in time and put him back on track. The story is anchored on Chava’s quest to earn the team’s number 10 jersey, worn by soccer legends and coveted by all players.

The glamorous, dynamic and unpredictable world of soccer will be at the center of El Diez, serving as a unique platform to seamlessly promote a variety of brands.  The series will be shot in HD with a cinematic style and storylines that mirror today’s sport’s headlines. El Diez will also be filmed on location in Mexico City, capturing real places instead of soundstage with the goal of bringing audiences into many iconic corners of Mexico and making the country another character in the show.

El Diez is a production of Animus Entertainment Group and ÉPOCA Films, directed by Noe Santillan Lopez.

El Diez is part of the ESPN Deportes 2011-2012 Season programming lineup which was announced as part of ESPN Upfront presentation on Tuesday, May 17. 

About ESPN Deportes

ESPN Deportes is the leading multimedia, Spanish-language sports brand dedicated to providing the widest variety of sports to the U.S. Hispanic sports fan via television, online, print, radio and wireless. Sports media assets include ESPN Deportes television which offers unparalleled Spanish-language sports programming, featuring more than 1,400 live and/or original hours of sports programming presented annually; ESPN Deportes Radio, the only around-the-clock Spanish-language sports radio network in the U.S., and currently available in 10 of the top 25 U.S. Hispanic radio markets and also distributed on SIRIUS Satellite Radio; ESPN Deportes La Revista, the first general sports Spanish-language magazine in the U.S.; ESPNdeportes.com, the #1 Spanish-language sports Web site among Spanish-preferred fans in the U.S.; and ESPN Deportes Wireless, the brand’s  emerging business which offers Spanish-language sports content to fans to text message enabled phones.

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