5 Football Documentaries you can easily find on YouTube

Documentaries are made to show reality, which is essential to telling meaningful, unknown stories as well as spreading awareness. It helps us to remain informative and educative. It can cover stories from history, social issues, entertainment, sports, and politics, among others.

With a fair bit of time before the football season starts, fans have enough time to get prepared to watch their favorite teams again. In this free time, why not look at football from a different perspective? There are a lot of documentaries focused on players, teams, managers, and social issues in football.

Football-related documentaries can be seen on Netflix, Amazon, and ESPN. Some of the renowned documentaries include The Two Escobars, the All or Nothing series, Neymar: The Perfect Chaos, Sunderland Till I Die, and many more. You need to have a subscription to the streaming platforms mentioned above.

There are many short-length documentaries available on YouTube. Here are five football documentaries you should look out for on the platform.

Football’s Most Dangerous Rivalry

Vice is well known for its unique style of journalism. Vice is famous for covering places where mainstream media can’t go. They show societies from different perspectives and reach into hidden corners of the world. Football’s Most Dangerous Rival is a documentary published in 2012 on the VICE website.

This 45-minute film shows one of the best-known rivalries in that between the Rangers and the Celtics. Vice looks into both sides of the rivalry and why it breeds hatred, racism, and violence. It also examines political, religious, and national identity clashes. The "Old Firm" is a well-known rivalry in world football.

Women’s Football in India

DW, or Deutsche Welle, is a German-based media outlet that has been uploading many documentaries on YouTube. Women’s Football in India is an inspirational and uplifting documentary based on three women from different cities in India: Mundgod, Mumbai, and Pernem. It's the story of three young girls from different religious backgrounds who come together in Goa to play football.

It was uploaded in 2018 on the DW Documentary channel and shows the footballing culture and the passion the three girls have for the beautiful game. This short 26-minute documentary also shows how Discover Football is helping to empower girls who are interested in football.

The Rhythm of Game

Episode 4 of the Bob Marley Legacy shows the lifelong relationship of Bob Marley’s love for football. The 33-minute documentary shows footage of Bob Marley playing football and its importance in Jamaica. This documentary combines music and sports and how Marley influenced the Jamaican women’s football team known as Reggae Girlz. It showcases the joy football can bring and Marley’s contribution to the sport.

Coach Zoran and his African Tigers

The documentary, directed by Sam Benstead and released on February 14, 2014, follows the story of coach Zoran in South Sudan. A coach who tried to achieve success with a national team consisting of non-professional players.

The film looks at the different obstacles he managed to overcome in the African Cup. It shows how the Serbian coach came into conflict with local officials and his dictatorial management style. The documentary explores how the team competed in its first international tournament, overcoming malaria, death, and poverty.

Football’s Coming Out

The documentary, uploaded on February 26, 2022, on Channel 4 Sports, looks at why there are still barriers to top footballers being openly LGBTQ+. It interviews some professional footballers like Patrick Bamford, Ian Holloway, Joleon Lescott, and many more.

The film shows what coming out looks like and what the reactions of other players, the media, social media, supporters, and endorsement companies are. It shows archived footage of what happened in historical case studies in football and how it has changed now. Almost an hour from the documentary shows disturbing and insightful information on why players are still insecure.