FIFA World Cup 2022 broke all the records with a whopping 5 billion viewers of the month-long competition.
Soccer, as we Americans like to call it, is the most sought-after sport in the World as seen through the popularity of the World Cup. More eyes have been caught by the game with the addition of players like Messi the World Cup winner in the MLS.
Even though the sport is quite famous, the movies on the topic are limited. Still, some of the cable TV channels like FX Movie, or what you can do is stream these soccer movies in high-definition over the internet. For that, a stable internet connection is required, so you don’t have to worry about lag and buffering. If you’re looking one such option we recommend Windstream Internet.
Anyways, from the short list of movies, we are going to hand-pick the best soccer movies in this article. You can’t go wrong with any of them. Without further ado, let’s dive right into them.
Shaolin Soccer
Yeah. We know you might have already heard of it and it kinda sounds overrated now.
But it, still, is one of the best sports comedy movies. The movie is written, directed, and starring by Stephen Chow. The story is about a martial artist who has been selected by a former player to play in a tournament. Chow who hasn’t touched the ball in his lifetime forms a team with his brothers.
The witty ways of the martial artists impress the audience in the movie and make the movie-watchers laugh. The stunts in the movie to kick the ball from one corner to another are incredible.
The movie is a good pick to watch with a soccer-loving family.
Diego Maradona
Released in 2019, Diego Maradona is arguably the best documentary film to ever grace the screen.
The documentary depicts the story of the legend of the game, Diego Armando Maradona. He is also known as the ‘God of Football’ after the incident where he scored a goal which was later claimed as a handball by journalists and upon asking he replied ‘The hand of the God, the hand of the God’.
The story of the film is elaborated through archive footage for the first time in 2019 at the Cannes Film Festival. Later it was released in the cinemas. The film revolves around the transfer of Maradona from Football Club Barcelona to S.S.C. Napoli in the city of Naples. There he won two titles along with a UEFA Cup with Italy.
The documentary is fine so it received praise with a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film definitely is the one to watch.
The Damned United
Based on a best-selling comedy novel of the same name, The Damned United, was released in 2009.
The story of the movie and the novel revolves around a manager Brian Clough who’s appointed to resurrect a doomed club Leeds United in 1974. The movie is admired a lot by the fans.
The cast of the movie includes big names like Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, and Jim Broadbent. They did a great job to climb The Damned United up to the top ten soccer movies.
While the movie is appreciated by some, the critics won’t hold it. The Damned United is criticized for some missing plots. But overall, the movie is one of the fine choices to watch on a lazy winter evening.
The Goal
It’s basically a trilogy and is termed as the best soccer movie series of all time. The first part of the trilogy was released in 2005 and the other two in succession in 2007 and 2009.
The story of the movie revolves around Santiago Munez, an energetic young footballer, who makes his way up to the elite football in his career. In 2005’s The Goal, Santiago joins the top club in the English Premier League. The next one follows him as he joins the Spanish Giants Real Madrid from Newcastle United and the third and final one depicts how he joins the Mexican national team in the World Cup.
You won’t go wrong with this choice either. Many star soccer players like Raul, Alan Shearer, and Beckham among others appear in the movie.
Summing Up
Watching soccer movies is a great way to catch up with the fictional part of the fantastic game of soccer. Movies like Shaolin Soccer can provide you with an idea of how the game will look if it is played by the masters of another sport while Diego Maradona can give a reality based experience to one of the greatest soccer players of all time.