When compared to the number of movies on American football, the beautiful game does not have a lot of titles to boast. However, over the years we have seen some quality movies on several aspects that surround football in general.Let's take a look at the 10 best football movies of all time in no particular order:
#10 Escape to Victory
Escape to victory is another football movie based on true events that focuses on an exhibition match between the Allied prisoners of the war and a German team during the World War II.
With a blockbuster star cast including Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone and Max von Sydow, the movie was one of the biggest hits of 1981.
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#9 The Game of their Lives
Based on true events, this movie is a tribute to US national team's famous victory over England in the 1950 World Cup. Released in 2005, the movie will be always remembered as one of the greatest underdog stories portrayed on the big screen.
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#8 Montevideo: Taste of a Dream
Originally titled 'Montevideo, God Bless You', this movie is a gripping tale about the journey of Yugoslavia football team to the first ever FIFA World Cup in 1930. Directed by Dragan Bjelogrli, the movie attained considerable box-office success in Serbia and was screened at some of the biggest film festivals of the world.
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#7 The Football Factory
Based on the best-selling novel by John King, 'The Football Factory' is another critically acclaimed moves that talks about football hooliganism. Filmed in a documentary style, the movie highlights the pub-culture and the post-match violence that goes hand in hand with British football.
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#6 Green Street Hooligans
The movie revolves around the culture of hooliganism in British football. Highlighting a particular 'firm' of West Ham United supporters, this movie introduced the dark side of football fanaticism to the watching world.
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#5 Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch, based on a novel from Nick Hornby depicts the life of an Arsenal fan who is caught up managing his love for the club, his girlfriend and his job as a teacher. The film uses the Arsenal-Liverpool game of the '89 season to culminate a gripping climax that sees Arsenal lift the league trophy with a 2-0 win.
Considering the success of the original 1997 movie starring Colin Firth, a remake with baseball replacing football as the key sport in the script was created in 2005 to cater the American audience.
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#4 The Goal trilogy
A series of football films is the story of a young aspiring footballer from Mexico that goes on to be one of the biggest stars of the game. The movie worked for the fans as it gave them a chance to know more about the lives of top footballers. With special appearances from Zindine Zidane, David Beckham, Raul, Steven Gerrard etc. this movie is definitely a must watch for every football fan.
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#3 Bend it like Beckham
Starring Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra in the lead roles, 'Bend it like Beckham' is a story of two aspiring female footballers. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, this comedy-drama shows the struggle of women footballers belonging to reserved family backgrounds that restricts them to play professional football.
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#2 The Damned United
An adaptation of David Peace's bestseller that goes by the same name, the movie is a look at the infamous 44-day reign of Brian Clough as the Leeds United manager. Starring Michael Sheen as Brian Clough and Colm Meaney and Don Revie, the movie was one of the finest sports dramas of the last decade.
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#1 Shaolin Soccer
2001 Hong Kong comedy had two things going for it - football and martial arts. The story is based on a Shaolin martial arts follower that forms a football team with his brothers to win a tournament. Directed by Stephen Chow definitely changed the way a game of football was presented on the big screen as the special effects were well ahead of its times.
