Plot: A womanizing sports journalist decides to organize a women’s football match to defy his boss during the newspaper’s annual charity fair. Unbeknownst to him, he puts together the first women’s football team in France.

KBZ’s Take: Loosely based on the formation of France’s first women’s soccer team, Let the Girls Play is a fun historical film with underlying romantic comedy elements. While the film features an oddball assortment of first-time soccer players from the blonde model Jeanne (Mona Walravens) to the middle-aged housewife Raymonde (Carole Franck), it’s the standout performance from Vannesa Guide (as Emmanuelle Bruno) that makes the film worth seeing – especially the subplot that explore the dynamic between Emmanuelle and her former soccer star father Giacomo (Luca Zingaretti).

Where to Stream / Buy: Tubi

Plot: With the 2014 World Cup qualifiers approaching, down-on-his-luck coach Thomas Rongen tries to turn the American Samoa soccer team into winners.

KBZ’s Take: Next Goal Wins is your typical Sports Comedy and is quite predictable. From the film’s first act you can likely guess where the film is going and how it will end up. And while the film is funny overall, there are some moments that fall flat and seem out of place.

However, the reason we have the film higher on our list is because of the two great performances from Michael Fassbender and Kaimana. Fassbender adds dark and subtle comedy to his role as the angry and alcoholic Thomas Rongen (a role that seems clearly inspired by Walter Matthau’s Coach Buttermaker from The Bad News Bears (1976)). Rongen and Buttermaker are both circling the drain in life yet find inspiration and redemption from a team of misfits.

And Kaimana’s role as Jaiyah Saelua adds an additional dimension to the film with the role of transgender athletes in sports. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, Kaimana gives an emotional performance that is the heart and soul of the film and makes it worth watching.

Additional Lists: Best Recent Fish Out of Water Comedies #6

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Marinette Pichon has had football in her blood from an early age. Brought up by a courageous mother who had to cope with a violent husband, Marinette is determined to become the best football player in the world.

KBZ’s Take: Marinette Pichon is one of France’s most iconic athletes from her time as the first French women’s athlete to play in the Women’s United Soccer Association to her role in France’s 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup appearance. The biopic chronicles Marinette’s life from her troubled upbringing to her eventual fight for LBTQ rights in professional sports.

While the film does focus more on Pichon’s life outside of soccer, it does have some amazing scenes of Pichon’s ability on the pitch that are brought to life by the amazing Garance Marillier. Marillier has been in some interesting films from Raw (2016) to Titane (2021) but Marinette is the pinnacle of her acting career to date and makes the film worth watching for her performance alone.

Where to Stream / Buy: Apple TV+

Plot: Jess Bhamra, the daughter of a strict Indian couple in London, is not permitted to play organized soccer, even though she is 18. When Jess is playing for fun one day, her impressive skills are seen by Jules Paxton, who then convinces Jess to play for her semi-pro team. Jess uses elaborate excuses to hide her matches from her family while also dealing with her romantic feelings for her coach, Joe.

KBZ’s Take: Every sports subgenre has its share of romantic comedies and romantic dramas. Soccer is no different with more than a few romcoms residing in the subgenre including Fever Pitch (1997) & Playing for Keeps (2021). However, those films are romcoms first while Bend it Like Beckham’s primary focus is on soccer aspirations vs. family expectations.

The film is essentially a Coming-of-Age drama (with a few humorous elements) that tackles multiple themes from ethnic culture to teen angst. However, the film excels when it continually circles back to Jess’ (Parminder Nagra) soccer ability and performance on the pitch. It’s a predictable film (like most sports films) but one that will have you cheering at the end.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: The story of a man whose love for football, for England and for the love of his life, Margaret, saw him rise from Nazi villain to British hero. Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper won over even his harshest opponents by winning the FA Cup Final for Manchester City in 1956 – playing on with a broken neck to secure victory.

KBZ’s Take: When we prepare these lists, there’s always some lesser-known films we must watch to make sure the list is complete. Most of these films never crack our Top 20, but The Keeper was a film that shot up right into our Top 10 (and is one of the reasons we love compiling these lists – to watch films we never heard of and can recommend them to others).

This film has everything from drama to romance to tragedy. Based on the life of Bert Trautmann, it gives a glimpse into post-World War II anxiety in Britain and how one man gives up his national identity for a newfound love and for his love of the game. It’s a film that’s both aspirational and heartbreaking at the same time, but one we highly recommend for every fan of the beautiful game.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: The life story of Brazilian football legend, Pelé.

KBZ’s Take: Pelé is one of the most iconic soccer players ever and is often considered the best soccer player of all time. We couldn’t have a list of soccer films that didn’t include the only player in history to win three World Cups.

As for the film, it’s your standard biopic that chronicles Pelé’s life as a youth on the streets to international soccer star. While the film does have some pacing issues, it still offers some insight into the events that shaped the soon-to-be superstar. There’s also some interesting footage of the 1958 FIFA World Cup (where Pelé made his debut) and you can also check the #2 film on our list if you want to see the real Pelé in action.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: A football team from Belgrade, former Republic of Yugoslavia, gets a chance to go to the First World Football Championship, but things get complicated along the way.

KBZ’s Take: It’s a shame this film isn’t currently available on streaming platforms or even on DVD. It’s another lesser-known film on our list that quickly rose into our Top 5 rankings. It’s a Serbian film that’s very well made and chronicles Yugoslavia’s appearance in the first FIFA World Cup tournament held in Uruguay in 1930.

The film does an excellent job of highlighting most of the controversies that happened during this inaugural World Cup from the lack of European teams present to a controversial Yugoslavian goal that was disallowed in their match against host nation, Uruguay. There’s some great soccer action throughout the film that’s buoyed by a romantic subplot involving Aleksandar Tirnanić (Miloš Biković) and his relationship with a Uruguayan woman and her family.

Where to Stream / Buy: N/A

Plot: Based on a true story, this film tells the tale of the 1950 US soccer team who, against all odds, beat England 1 – 0 in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Although no US team has yet won a World Cup title, this story is about the family traditions and passions which shaped the lives of the players who made up this team of underdogs.

KBZ’s Take: Though this film was panned by critics and bombed at the box office in 2005, it’s a film we felt needed a re-examination 20 years later. Yes, it’s predictable and yes, it has some pacing issues, but when put up against other subgenre films about soccer, it’s one of the best.

The film highlights a little-known event in U.S. sports history and has some standout performances from Wes Bentley (Walter Bahr), Gerard Butler (Frank Borghi) and Jimmy Jean-Louis (Joe Gaetjens). It’s an aspirational, feel good sports film about underdogs in the vein of Hoosiers (1986) and Rudy (1993) and worth a second look by fans of soccer or sports film fans in general.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: The head of a German POW camp, soccer enthusiast Karl von Steiner (Max von Sydow) organizes a match between Nazi players and their Allied captives. Orchestrated as a way to push the Third Reich agenda, the high-profile game is set to feature an international team led by John Colby (Michael Caine), a veteran British player. While the team, which also includes Luis Fernandez (Pelé) of Trinidad, trains for the match, Robert Hatch (Sylvester Stallone) plans a dangerous mass escape from the camp.

KBZ’s Take: Of all the sports films we recommend, Victory (aka Escape to Victory) is always in our Top 5 recommendations. It’s a fascinating sports film and P.O.W. War Film that has equal parts of action-packed Soccer (Football) scenes as well as suspenseful war-time scenes.

The film is always engaging and has great rapport between Michael Caine as the ‘coach’ and Sylvester Stallone as the American who only knows how to play American Football. The film is worth seeing alone for Pelé’s famous ‘bicycle kick’ during the end of film match.

Additional Lists: Top Sports Drama Films You Haven’t Seen #3

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon

Plot: Like millions of kids around the world, Santiago harbors the dream of being a professional footballer… However, living in the Barrios section of Los Angeles, he thinks it is only that–a dream. Until one day an extraordinary turn of events has him trying out for Premiership club Newcastle United.

KBZ’s Take: We debated putting Victory (1981) as our top selection here but ended up giving Goal! the top slot not just for this film, but also for it’s sequel, Goal! II: Living the Dream (2007). This is a great set of films that follows the traditional sports underdog arc of rise, fall and redemption. And though both films are somewhat predictable, they feature some great action and standout performances.

First, Kuno Becker excels in his role as the underdog, Santiago Muñez. He’s believable as the soccer player in the barrio that is given a shot at a dream of a lifetime playing for Newcastle United. His chemistry with fellow player Gavin Harris (Alessandro Nivola) also makes the film work as it explores all the machinations behind the scenes of becoming a superstar on the world stage. Stephen Dillane as the scout that discovers Santiago and Anna Friel as Santiago’s love interest are also great in both films.

Second, there’s some great action sequences in the films with both actors, Becker and Nivola, holding their own with real-life soccer superstars such as David Beckham and Robinho. You often forget these are just actors that make the film more believable with their athletic display.

As we noted, both films are formulaic like other sports subgenre films, but you can’t beat both Goal! films as the best look into the world of FIFA and soccer.

Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon (DVD), Fandango (Stream)