With the Indian Super League and the UEFA Champions League on, and FIFA World Cup kicking off soon in Qatar, we’re in the thick of the football season. Each week comes with its fresh dose of drama on the field: New stars anointed, old legends vanquished, goals that no one saw coming, penalties that saved the day. It’s all the sporting action some of us need right now.
But there’s obviously as much going on behind the scenes as on the field. That’s a big reason why the world’s most global sport has captivated generations of filmmakers and documentarians. The football documentary is a genre unto itself. Even the worst of them are slick pieces of film, often in service of the fans. The best of them become timeless snapshots of sportsmanship and human nature, warts and all.
Any blue-blooded football fan would’ve watched the big titles, the “inside looks” into the most prestigious teams (Amazon Prime Video’s All or Nothing series); the biopics on the MVPs, or the most valuable players Wayne Rooney, Lionel Messi and their ilk; the scandals that rocked the world (Bad Sport’s Footballgate episode). But what of the little leagues, the managers, the fans, the history, the football of the streets?
Only the most determined among us will be able to find some of the most spectacular, meaningful football documentaries online — such as The Two Escobars (2010), diving into the incredible intertwined story of drug lord Pablo and national team captain Andrés as "narco-soccer" grew and Colombia rose in the ranks of world football in the 1990s.
Or LFG (2021), which takes us inside the fight for equal pay waged by the American women’s soccer team. Or Next Goal Wins (2014), the heartwarming underdog story of when the American Samoa, the world’s worst football team, tried to qualify for the World Cup. Or even Return to Real Kashmir FC (2020), Greg Clark’s follow-up film about Scottish footballer David Robertson’s unexpected but successful stint as manager for Real Kashmir FC.
More easily accessible are these seven gems, streaming on Netflix, YouTube, Apple TV+ and more, that tell extraordinary stories where life and sport collide.
Diego Maradona (2019)
By Asif Kapadia
Streaming on: Netflix
On the field, Maradona at his peak was pure joy to watch, for the audacity and finesse he brought to each move and goal. Off it, he was a man mired in controversy and scandal. From hours of found footage and archival tape, Oscar-winning filmmaker Kapadia (Senna, 2010; Amy, 2015) cuts an irresistible portrait of a man who became a victim of his own celebrity. A devastating film about one of the most iconic figures in football history, this is a must-watch even for those who have, say, merely an anthropological interest in the vicissitudes of fame and fortune.
Maitanam — The Story of Football in Kerala (2022)
By Misha Kumar
Streaming on FIFA+
We’ll leave the debate on which is India’s most football-crazy state for another day, but this small (literally, at 40 minutes), wonderful documentary makes a strong case for Kerala to be it. Case in point: When Maradona passed away in 2020, the Kerala government announced two days of mourning. Through six unique, individual stories — such as the Santosh Trophy Village, the women’s football team Gokulam Kerala FC, the Sevens games and other such distinctly Kerala inventions — Kumar gathers a picture of how a sport gives meaning, depth and texture to life in God’s own country.
Watch here: Maitanam — The Story of Football in Kerala
Football’s Most Dangerous Rivalry (2012)
By Vice Studios
Streaming on YouTube
This VICE documentary from 2012 goes deep inside the vicious rivalry of the Rangers and the Celtics — a strife born in Scotland, but famous beyond borders for the vitriol a match between the two Glasgow clubs can trigger. VICE’s correspondent journeys to both sides of the “Old Firm” to meet fans and learn that this sledging is about more than football; it’s about God himself. The barbs that the Rangers and Celtics fans throw at each other leave the Mohun Bagan-East Bengal rivalry looking like little more than a friendly squabble between kittens.
Sunderland ’Til I Die (2018)
By Fulwell 73
Streaming on Netflix
Technically a series, but worth every minute of its two-season, 14-episode run – this is a fly-on-the-wall documentary about a legendary English club’s struggles as they try to get back into the Premier League after relegation. As the camera follows the team and their fans about town, capturing the unvarnished drama and unedited conversation, a larger picture emerges: That of a once-industrial town past its prime, but living, breathing and thriving for their team. Sunderland, meanwhile, made it back into the EFL Championship earlier this year — so here’s hoping.
(Bonus tip: If you enjoy the fly-on-the-wall style of storytelling, queue up the Russell Crowe-narrated Take Us Home: Leeds United on Amazon Prime Video and the ’90s cult film They Think It’s All Rovers on YouTube to see more erstwhile giants of English football trying to regain lost fervour and status.)
Bob Marley: Legacy — Rhythm of the Game (2020)
By Dezi Catarino, Marcus McDougald & Mark Odgers
Streaming on YouTube
Did you know that Bob Marley was a football fan? “There’s something about the revolving of the ball,” says Donisha Prendergast, Bob Marley’s granddaughter, somewhere around the 8th minute of this half-hour episode of “Legacy”, the 12-part series that celebrates Bob Marley and life in the Caribbean Islands — and in this case, his deep love for the game. “There’s something about the camaraderie that this game creates for you. A safe space outside of your home space,” she says, pretty much summing up the essence of football in places like Jamaica, more lifeblood than anything else. In this beautiful, elegiac episode, music, rastafarianism and soccer meet on a higher plane.
The Class of ’92 (2013)
By Benjamin Turner and Gabe Turner
Streaming on Apple TV+
In 1992, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes were just six working class boys, fresh graduates of the Manchester United youth team. Within seven years, they were European football royalty with their team’s treble win at the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, in 1999. This documentary is a heartwarming walk down memory lane for each Red Devil — but more importantly, a study in male friendship that lasts and a snapshot of the world as it was at the end of the last millennium.
The Other Final (2003)
By Johan Kramer
Streaming on YouTube
The FIFA World Cup 2002 was Brazil’s crowning glory moment as they won their fifth WC trophy, after their 2-0 win over Germany. But at the same time, another FIFA sanctioned match was going down in Thimpu — between Montserrat and Bhutan, the two lowest-ranked teams at the time. Kramer’s 2003 film follows members of both teams in their home countries, and captures the joy and anticipation generated by this friendly match that the rest of the world would likely never care about.
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