'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. With over billions of fans worldwide, the game seems to be gaining in popularity over the years. Although soccer themed movies have not done remarkably on the silver screen, mainly due to the inability of the director to capture the 'Beautiful Game's’ true essence, there are a few that still tell a compelling story.
While making a movie, a number of factors have to be taken into consideration, such as target audience, box office value, and the content of the film. While sports based films are not ideal box office successes, they do carry an emotional tinge that is rarely matched in other genres. Soccer movies have a lot of potential for creating an emotional connect with the audience, but very few have actually built on that potential. The few that have have not reaped significant financial dividends, and hence might be lost in the burgeoning world of sports movies.
Also read: The hottest WAGs in football
Luckily you don't need to look far to find these. From drama, actioncomedies to real life thrillers, there are a number of amazing soccer films available at your fingertips.
Here is a list of the top 20 soccer movies that is a must watch for any soccer fan around the world:
20. Escape to Victory (1981)
War movies have managed to occupy a large part of the entertainment industry, when it comes with a football twist, the picture looks rather captivating. Such an attempt was made by director John Huston in 1981 and the end product was Escape to Victory or Victory. It was an attempt to recreate The Great Escape of the Allied Prisoners of war from the Nazi Camp, the twist in the tale being football.
The prisoners of war were to face the all-star Nazi team in a game of football to earn their freedom from captivity. An interesting concept but the execution falls short in portraying the brutal realities of war.
Inspite of that, attention to detail was given in the game scene mainly with the contribution of several international football legends like Pele (Brazil), Bobby Moore (England), Osvaldo Ardiles (Argentine), Kazimierz Deyna (Poland), Paul Van Himst (Belgium), and Michael Summerbee (England). Overall an interesting watch for football fans not so much a war movie.
19. Kicking and Screaming (2005)
This movie is not just a great soccer tale but also a great parenting guide. No matter what the name suggest the movie is far from scary and actually a funny take on how parents get over competitive when their kids are on the field and forget the most important lesson every game has to offer. It is not about winning or losing it is all about having fun while doing it!
Phil (Will Ferrell) is haunted by the memories of his over competitive father while coaching his son’s little league team and makes the same mistakes his father made but things get interesting when Phil’s team competes with his father’s.
Although it takes a funny take on how violent parents can get over simple things but at the end of the movie everyone realises the importance of sometimes letting our kid’s be. While a certain degree of competition is healthy, people should realise not everyone who kicks a ball is cut out to be Messi or Zidane.
18. Bend it Like Beckham (2002)
Probably the finest work of Gurinder Chadha, not so much Keira Knightley’s. The movie is about Jesminder, the daughter (Parminder Nagra ) of a traditional Sikh family from India now settled in England. Unlike her sister, she spends most of her time playing football in the park with her male friends during one such match she is picked up by Jules played by Keira Knightley who insists her to join the women’s league.
The story explores the world of women’s football and at the same time portraying the struggles of an 18-year-old trying to make it big in the world of football instead of making aloo gobi back home and getting married to a nice Indian boy.
A fun story capturing the very essence of friendship, love and determination to fulfil one’s dream. Bend it like Beckham became one of the world’s most popular films in the early 2000’s and it was one of the few films based on football that garnered commercial success at the box office.
17. Goal: The Dream Begins! (2005)
Goal! is one of those movies which is equally enjoyed by football fans and by the folks who have no clue what the game is all about. The story is about a simple boy with a lot of raw potential but no money, encouragement or guidance but eventually how he makes it big in the world of football.
Like every great underdog story this movie also has mean bullies for teammates, a father who never understands, a determined coach who pushes the youngster to achieve his dreams and a beautiful girl who supports his endeavours and shares his dream.
Although it has a similar plot points yet it is remarkably striking making it a successful football drama. Everyone keeps hearing about the rags to riches stories of innumerable footballers from across the globe.
The likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldo Nazario De Lima, all had to struggle to make ends meet while pursuing their football dream. There is a certain element of romance in these stories, and this is epitomised in Goal, as a Mexican immigrant beats all odds to make it big in the English Premier League.
16. The Football Factory (2004)
A fair warning if one is hoping to find serious football action in a movie then this is not for you. The Football Factory is strictly a movie based on hooligans. It has barely anything to do with the actual sport but the things which are unfortunately associated with it: drugs, sex and violence.
All clubs across the globe have at least once been associated with similar tragic incidents. This movie strictly talks about the involvement of certain sections of Chelsea fans in such acts. The movie is based on a novel written by Nick Love about a member of the Chelsea firm who tries to justify his actions by claiming to make a difference.
Is it the cleverest of movies? Certainly not but nonetheless it shows a side of club football that is often ignored and the causalities that comes with it. An interesting watch taking one on a bumpy ride exploring football’s dark side.
15. Offside (2006)
Any woman who has ever claimed to enjoy football has certainly been asked once if not more if she is aware of what offside means. If one answers correctly only then she is allowed to enjoy the sport with her male counterparts without the accompanying jaunty jibes.
If it is this difficult for female fans one can certainly apprehend how difficult it must be for the women all over the world to actually play the sport and if you belong to a country like Iran things can get a tad bit nasty. Offside is not just a football comedy it is so much more than that.
It is a struggle of football fanatics who face difficulties even entering football stadiums let alone play the game. The Iranian director Jafar Panahi managed to capture the rather disturbing reality every female football fan faces with a hint of gentle comedy. At no point does the movie seemed dragged or pointless and manages to celebrate the very madness associated with football.
14. The Miracle of Bern (2003)
This is certainly not a war movie but it manages to capture beautifully why war must be avoided at all cost. Set in 1954, Germany where people were still drunk from the hangover of the war. With socio-economic conditions wrecked people turned to sports for inspiration and solace.
Although we all remember what happened in Bern in 1954, what the Germans remember was an astonishing victory turning into a rise of prosperity and like a phoenix the Germans rose again from their own ashes. Thus this became a moment in sports which was not only infused with joy but also with hope.
The story writes itself more or less. Like every great sports movie it too relies on similar formula for its success but with it many ups and downs it manages to capture the gruesome realities of Germany post 1945 and how a nation found hope. It also reminds its audience that a lot of people failed to come back home after the war.
A lot was lost but one single win changed the very way one nation saw itself. This movie actually shows the power of sports and the fact that anything is possible if you truly believe.
13. The Game of Their Lives (2005)
Based on a 1950 football match between USA and England in Brazil , this movie tells a tale of an underdog team who steals the show against all odds. Starring Gerard Butler as the goalkeeper for the American football team who is also the man who brings the whole team together.
This movie shows the struggles of 11 men who have nothing but passion to embark on a road never before travelled by an American. Although the American team won no title but they managed to beat England 1-0. This is a story of passion and how these footballers break family traditions to pursue their passion for the game.
A lot of attention was given to each and every detail while making the movie. It captures the mood of a period drama. What makes it different from any other underdog movie is it celebrates the sport as a team event and doesn’t make it about an individual’s struggle for glory.
12. Rise of the Foot Soldier (2007)
If you are interested in football hooligans turning into drug-lords, this is just the movie for you. The Rise of the Footsoldier is a story about the rise of Carlton Leach who became the member of an infamous criminal gang after being one of the most celebrated football generals.
The movie mostly shows how this notorious gang in the early nineties spread fear all over London and Essex. Although a lot of movies are based on a similar theme what set it apart is the acting and the pace of the movie. But in essence it also misses the point; it is more about the hooligans and less about football. It is certainly not a feel good movie but a well-crafted one nonetheless. However, the movie once again highlights a rising threat to football fans across the globe.
The advent of the ultras, or hooligan fans is becoming a real menace in modern day football. Italy and England are regular sufferers of this menace, while Russia is witnessing progressively increasing violence every year, at football stadiums. While the game’s administrators are still at a loss as to how to quell this threat, this movie highlights the dangers of growing hooliganism in football.
11. She’s the Man (2006)
Adapted from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the movie is certainly not how Shakespeare would have imagined Twelfth Night to be but there is something lovable about the whole movie which is mainly a teenage rom-com which can be enjoyed by everyone and not just football fans.
Everyone has a secret and in this case Voila played by Amanda Bynes has a big one. She loves playing football but the world won’t allow her to do something she absolutely loves so she embraces a secret identity disguising her as a boy, entering her brother’s school eventually joining the football team.
She can now easily play the game she is so passionate about and is much loved by her fellow teammates. Everything was going as planned until she falls in love with her roommate Duke. Like every rom-com this too manages to celebrate love and friendship at the same time. A fun watch and Amanda Bynes is rather adorable in the movie.
10. Believe (2013)
Sir Matt Busby is one of Manchester United’s most celebrated coaches. This movie begins post his retirement and how he takes up the challenge to coach a working class youth football club. The movie takes you on an amazing journey that makes you realise why football is such a celebrated sport.
Not for a moment does the movie loses its grip on its audience but cast a mesmerising charm that very aptly defines the sport and the title of the movie.
Like every great coach he not only makes the new generation great at the game but makes them fall in love with the sport. This movie just gives you another reason to fall in love with football all over again and instils a certain passion for the game which is truly inspirational. This is a movie you would want to come back to again and again.
Viewers get a feel of why Sir Matt Busby is considered by many to be the greatest English manager to have been involved with the beautiful game.
9. The Cup (1999)
The Cup is not about the great football legends or legendary clubs, it is a tale of two football fans who are also Tibetan refugees who land up in an Indian monastery. Displaced from Tibet, the two friends, who were novice monks, now begin a desperate search for a place to watch the 1998 World Cup final.
Set in the serene environment of the Tibetan refugee village Bir, in Himachal Pradesh, India, the movie rather captures the mood of the changing world and how the Lama has to face the challenge of imparting the teachings of Buddha to his students with so many distractions around them.
The director Khyentse Norbu was a Tibetan monk who later attended the New York City Film School. This movie received critical acclaim at a number of international film festivals. Soccer enthusiast Orgyen disrupts the mood of serene contemplation at the monastery in Bir, where he is desperate to catch a glimpse of the 1998 World Cup.
While a politically charged atmosphere prevails thanks to China’s invasion of Tibet, little Orgyen is immersed in his world with his own trials, about how to catch his favourite footballers in action in the remote hamlet in India.
8. Two Half-times in Hell (1961)
Most soccer movies promise a happy ending but not this one. It is a period film set in 1944 when the Germans decided to organise a football match on Hitler’s birthday. The Hungarian labour servicemen of war were invited to play against the German team.
The Hungarians used this as an excuse to get better working conditions and supplies. A team was thus organised with a condition that no Jews would be entertained during the match. Unfortunately the Hungarians didn’t live up to their promise and one Jew was included in the team but in disguise.
In spite of the Hungarians having a lead in the game they were executed before the match could come to an end. This movie is based on a match played by the Ukrainian prisoners and the German team.
The movie shows the gruesome nature of Nazi army and the many horrors associated with the Second World war. Escape to Victory had a similar premise but had a more conventional happy ending that many viewers demand, and most films cater to. This film on the other hand brought to the fore the true horrors of the war.
7. United (2011)
Inspired by a true story, United is a movie that is not just inspiring but at the same time manages to capture the very essence of football. It truly speaks profoundly about the legacy and the glory associated with Manchester United making it worth it not only for their fans but lovers of football in general.
The story narrates the tale of the legendary “Busby Babes“ of Manchester United. They were the youngest side in history to win a football League followed by the tragic Munich Air Crash that took eight of their number.
It beautifully captures how not just individuals but a community overcomes a harsh tragedy. The survivors and their families are interviewed during the stretch of the movie making a real connection with the audience. A heart-warming tale not just about football but also of human relations.
Fans of United, in their recent years of success, might not be in sync with the struggles the club has faced over the years. This movie will endear every fan to the club in a new way, and show them how much everyone associated with the red half of Manchester struggled to get the club to its titanic stature in the modern day and age.
6. The Damned United (2009)
Nigel Clough is one of the most successful British managers of all times. His feats while at Nottingham Forest have earned him cult status at the club and reserved his place in the pantheon of football’s managerial greats. However this film was about Clough’s meagre 44 day tenure as manager of Leeds United in 1974, which was an abject failure.
After Alf Ramsey failed to guide England to the 1974 World Cup, he was replaced by Don Revie, who was then a manager at the peak of his powers, enjoying tremendous success with Leeds. The resultant void at Leeds was filled by Clough, who was till then the manager of Derby County. Clough had been a vocal critic of Leeds’ overtly physical and sometimes violent style of play under Revie, and his appointment was met with tremendous anger from Leeds fans.
Clough had a longstanding feud with Leeds and Revie, going back to 1968, when Leeds took on 2nd division side Derby in the FA Cup. Revie did not acknowledge Clough despite them having played for Sunderland and both of them being from the same part of Middlesbrough. Leeds won that match and stoked a fire in Clough for revenge, and his quest for the same is investigated in this movie.
5. Green Street Hooligans (2005)
The 3rd movie about hooliganism in football, in our list, tells the story of a young American college student played by Elijah Wood who is smitten with a violent firm associated with West Ham United.
Elijah Wood plays Matt Buckner, a student of journalism at Harvard University who gets expelled because cocaine is discovered in his room. However, the cocaine actually belonged to Jeremy Van Holden, his roommate. Matt keeps silent in fear of the Van Holden’s who are a powerful family and Jeremy offers Matt $10000 to buy his silence.
Distraught over what to do, Matt takes the money and goes to London to visit his sister Shannon and her husband Steve Dunham. There he meets Steve’s brother Pete, a Cockney lad who heads the Green Street Elite, a football firm which organises fights after matches.
The story goes on to describe how Matt falls in with the Green Street Elite and gets involved in hooliganism, a very commonplace practice in English football nowadays. This film teaches us how the vulnerable members of society are trapped in a web of violence in numerous ways, and not everything about football is very beautiful.
4. Fever Pitch (1997)
Fever Pitch released in 1997 and starred Colin Firth in the leading role. The film is the big screen adaptation of Nick Hornby’s popular memoir, Fever Pitch: A Fan’s Life which released in 1992. Hornby wrote the screenplay for the film too.
The film centres on Arsenal’s first division winning exploits during the 1988-89 season and the immense impact it had on the protagonist’s life. Firth plays Paul Ashworth, a character loosely based on Hornby himself. Ashworth is a teacher in a North London school. Sarah Hughes is a new teacher at the school and Sarah’s character is played by Ruth Gemmel.
A romance starts blossoming between Sarah and Paul, as Arsenal put up a stellar showing during the football season and storm towards the first division title. The film showcases one of the most nail biting finishes to a football season as Arsenal took on fellow title challengers Liverpool in a winner takes all contest. A last minute goal from Michael Thomas fast-tracked him into the Gunners’ hall of fame, as the goal secured the 2-0 victory needed by Arsenal to win the title.
3. Pele: Birth of a legend (2016)
This film by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist showcases the early life of the legendary Brazilian Pele, one of the greatest to have ever kicked a football. Although the exploits of Pele on the pitch are well documented, not much of his personal life, especially during his formative years, was known to the world.
This film focuses on the relationship between a young Pele and his father. Filming for this movie took more than a year, spanning a period from September 2013 to late 2014, and took place in Rio de Janeiro.
After witnessing the magic of Brazilian football over the decades, millions of viewers around the world swear by the Samba style of soccer the Brazilian’s preach. However not many knew about Ginga, the foundation of Capoeira, a primitive form of martial art practised in Portugal.
African slaves brought to Brazil by the Portuguese escaped en masse to the forests where they took to Ginga to protect themselves. After the abolishment of slavery, Ginga was outlawed, and as a result many started applying bits and pieces of Ginga to different sports. Pele’s phenomenal ability was largely due to his training in Ginga.
2. A Shot at Glory (2002)
This fim my Michael Corrente starred Robert Duvall and also had Scottish player Ally McCoist in a leading role. Produced in 1999 and released in 2002, A Shot at Glory depicts the struggles of the manager of a small Scottish team who in a bid to turn around his teams sagging fortunes, ropes in a star player from Arsenal in England, who has undoubted talent but serious attitude problems.
Robert Duvall plays Gordon McLeod, the manager of Kilnockie FC, a fictional side in the Scottish second division. With his team struggling to avoid relegation, which would involve his team relocating from their quaint village, McLeod is forced by the American owners of the club to bring in a star player to revive the team.
In comes Jackie McQuillan from Arsenal, a talented player with a host of off-field issues. To compound matters further, McQuillan is McLeod’s son in law, and McLeod has a longstanding feud with his daughter. This movie traces the intricacies of human relationships while centring on a football theme.
1. Looking for Eric (2009)
Eric ‘The King’ Cantona features in this comic film from 2009, involving a football fanatic postman, also named Eric whose life falls apart due to a number of personal problems. Eric Bishop, played by Steve Evets, sees his life descend into crisis after his wife leaves him, dissatisfied with their marriage and his fanatical love for football and Manchester United. His two sons do not hold him in very high regard, and life as a postman is getting more taxing with every passing day.
A car crash lands Eric in hospital with a host of injuries. After discovering his stepson to be hiding a gun under the floorboards of their house, for a drugs baron, Eric becomes suicidal. However counselling sessions with fellow postmen and a shot at Cannabis stolen from his stepson causes Eric to hallucinate. His hallucinations bring him face to face with his footballing idol Eric Cantona. The Manchester United star discusses the philosophies of life with him, following which Eric’s life takes a dramatic upturn.
