(Photo by Paramount Classics/courtesy Everett Collection)
52 Best Soccer Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer
We’ve added Netflix’s The Beautiful Game to the list!
To start playing soccer, all you need is a flat surface, a round ball, a leg or two, and boom, you’re halfway to becoming a regular Diego Beckham. With its low barrier to entry and sky-high skill ceiling, it’s no wonder soccer’s the most popular sport in the world (at least until pickleball takes over — just 2.5 billion more people to go). So when it comes to the best movies ever made about soccer, we’re looking at it top to bottom, from goal-scoring winners to movies that may have flopped before the critics but still managed to find a spot on audiences’ teams.
We kick off our guide to the best soccer movies with Certified Fresh movies, including Offside (the comedy-drama from Iran, released when women were completely banned from attending sports), Bend It Like Beckham (the movie that made Keira Knightley a star), Shaolin Soccer (the outrageous action-fantasy from Stephen Chow), Diego Maradona (a documentary on one of the sport’s most legendary players), Early Man (stop-motion from Aardman Animations), and Looking for Eric (even freakin’ Ken Loach lightened up thanks to soccer). This premier selection of Certified Fresh movies reveals how truly international the sport is, as the only American soccer film in the top 10 is Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos, a revealing documentary on the 1970-1985 soccer club that famously signed Pele.
Beyond the top 10, we look at Fresh movies, including the Robert Duvall-starring A Shot at Glory, the World War II-set Victory, and Elisabeth Shue‘s autobiographical Gracie. Following that are Rotten-rated movies, including the ones that also rep positive Audience Scores like Green Street Hooligans, Mean Machine, and Goal! The Dream Begins.
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