Famous Football Movies

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Football, Soccer, The Beautiful Game. Call it what you will but it is the game enjoyed by billions the world over from the height of exclusive London apartments to the Favelas of Brazil. As a sport it has captured the imagination of young and old alike. Naturally, the world’s biggest sport has had many films made about it over the years. Some are celebrated as cult classics, others were rather forgettable. Here is a list of the most noteworthy.

1. Escape to Victory

EscapeToVictory
Escape to Victory

One of the quirkiest football movies out there was set not in contemporary England, but in a WW2 POW camp. It starred Michael Caine as a retired veteran whose career was ‘interrupted’ by the war, a football-mad Camp Commandant in Max Von Sydow and some of the biggest names in football of the 1960s and 1970s ‘ Osvaldo Ardiles, Mike Summerbee and even Pele. It also co-starred Sylvester Stallone. The Commandant wants a football match in occupied France between the POWs and the best players that the German military has to offer. The POWs see an opportunity to escape’¦

2. When Saturday Comes

When Saturday Comes
When Saturday Comes

It is one of the biggest profile football films ever produced, which is unfortunate because audiences consider it thoroughly average. Sean Bean stars as a factory worker whose skills are noticed by a non-league club and then on the off chance, by then Premier League club Sheffield United. Bean’s character is a hard-living, hard drinking individual who almost throws away his chance at playing at the highest level but ends up sending them into the Cup Final. Along the way he has a love interest and an on-the-pitch rival to contend with.

3. Goal!

 Goal!
Goal!

Probably now the most famous football film of them all thanks to a cult following, it concerns Santiago Muñez who has a bus-boy job in downtown LA. His skills are noticed by a friend who once played for Newcastle United in England. The friend organises a trial for Santiago and he has to find the money to get to England. Against the backdrop of personal difficulty and family strain, Santiago wins Newcastle a place in the UEFA Champion’s League. The film had two sequels. In Goal 2 he has transferred to Real Madrid and in the concluding part, he is at the 2006 World Cup

4. The Damned United

The Damned United
The Damned United

Biopics always make for good viewing and when it is about one of English football’s most colourful figures (Brian Clough) and played by one of the finest English actors of our generation (Michael Sheen), it was always going to be a hit. However, the film does not pretend to be a biopic, it is based on a book that is a fictionalised account of Clough’s ill-fated short-term period in charge of Leeds United. His position as manager of the club lasted just 44 days ‘ it was for many years the shortest managerial reign.

5. Bend it Like Beckham

Bend it Like Beckham
Bend it Like Beckham

Considered one of the best British comedies of all time, it features a young girl played by Parminder Nagra who is mad about football and wants to play professionally. Her traditional Sikh upbringing means that her parents frown on it. She plays football in the park with some male friends and one day she meets Jules (Keira Knightley) who invites her for a trial at a local girl’s football team. The girls fall out when both develop a crush on the coach (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). They must overcome personal differences and cultural and gender prejudices and of course, win the cup for the Harriers.

6. Mike Bassett: England Manager

 

Mike Bassett: England Manager
Mike Bassett: England Manager

Few films that portray football tend to focus on the managerial aspect of the game, usually a manager’s position is not considered worthy of serious drama or comedy as the action will focus on the players. The mockumentary follows Mike Bassett (played by Ricky Tomlinson) as he is appointed to the prestigious role and poisoned chalice that is England Manager. With a lack of options in the Premier League, the FA sink to Division One in their search for a new manager and find only Mike Bassett willing to take the role. With lots of football pop culture references, the film was released to mixed reviews

7. Fever Pitch

Fever Pitch
Fever Pitch

Where most films about football have focussed on the working-class end of the game, or rags to riches ‘triumph over adversity’ scenarios, Fever Pitch based on the book by Nick Hornby is a semi-autobiographical account of his life and love of Arsenal Football Club. The book was a collection of short essays about Arsenal between 1968-1992 but the film focussed on events of his life during Arsenal’s Premiership winning season of 1989 when, needing a two goal margin and leading only by a single goal, Michael Thomas gave them an injury time winner against a stunned Liverpool side

8. Mean Machine

Mean Machine
Mean Machine

In the tradition of Guy Ritchie’s modern British gangster films, it was only a matter of time before football became part of the scene. Former footballer in real life Vinnie Jones portrays a former player banned for life for match-fixing. As part of his punishment he is also sent to jail for three years. While inside, the Governor wants him to train the Wardens’ team but he refuses and instead, chooses a team from amongst the prisoners and challenges the wardens to a match. The film was based on The Longest Yard but changed the sport from American Football.

9. She’s the Man

She's the Man
She’s the Man

Oddly inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, this American rom-com is the story of a character played by Amanda Bynes who, incensed that her school has abolished the girl’s football team and is refused onto the boy’s team, joins an exclusive boarding school posing as her own brother in order to get onto the boy’s team. Her brother chose to go to London for an audition for his band. Bynes keeps up the charade until the end when she leads the team to beat her old school

10. Shaolin Soccer

Shaolin Soccer
Shaolin Soccer

One of the weirdest football films is this mash-up of sport and martial arts. A former Shaolin Monk teams up with his brothers to apply their fighting skills into the world’s biggest sport and raise awareness of Kung Fu. The film was a comedy with many nods to parody of martial arts films. The matches are spectacularly exaggerated and in the final of the cup competition they meet ‘Team Evil’. Watchable silliness.

Conclusion

The world’s most beautiful game is as popular now as it ever was and there is no end of possibilities to create good quality films about the sport, its fandom, players or managers. So long as there is a sport to enjoy, people will be step forward to offer their own unique perspective on the sport. It was reported in February 2014 that David Beckham was about to set up his own football team in the USA ‘ expect comedies and dramas to follow in the wake of this news.

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