At the time, Robert Delaunay was deeply involved in the artistic movements of the early 20th century. Having explored Impressionism and Divisionism, he and his wife, Sonia Delaunay, went on to develop Simultaneism, a technique aimed at achieving pictorial harmony through the simultaneous arrangement of colours. Like his friends Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars and Henri Rousseau, Delaunay was fascinated by modernity, whether through the exploits of aviators – which he would depict in Hommage à Blériot – or, as here, through sport, which was booming at the time.

These two footballers, set against a background of coloured circles, were created for a set design project for a ballet conceived with Diaghilev and Massine in 1918. Unfortunately, the project never came to fruition. Another study is nowadays held in the collections of the Troyes Museum of Fine Arts.