For the next four weeks, most of the planet’s obsessed with ball form football, football, will spend the majority of their waking hours watching, discussing and debating – at Shout out on social media and elsewhere – the World Cup. The world’s number one sporting event will be held in the small Middle East emirate of Qatar from November 18 to December . Controversy over Qatar’s human rights record has cast a pall over this year’s tournament, but some 5 billion people — or a billion B’s — are still expected to tune in.
Given football’s incredible popularity – even the US has a football craze thanks to the revival of the national team, and Ted Lasso – It’s no surprise that filmmakers have been trying to distill the essence of football on celluloid for years. The results, to put it mildly, were mixed. But for every British gangster drama – we’re looking at you, Football Factory, Green Street Hooligans and Foot Soldier Rise – There have been touching rom-coms, heart-pounding social dramas, insightful documentaries and even captivating animations that explore the passions the sport inspires using the action on the pitch as a starting point .
So if the World Cup has you craving more on-screen football, here are the 18 best movies ever made about this beautiful game.
