Football is a popular sport globally. However, most aren’t aware of the legends like Pele and Maradona. Thankfully, there are many documentaries on platforms like Netflix to help you better understand this beautiful game and the giants who made it what it is today. These are five documentaries you certainly shouldn’t miss out on.

Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona had a long career as a player and manager; however, he was also known for his colourful personality and controversial off-field (and sometimes on-field) antics.

As the name suggests, this documentary focuses on Maradona. It covers the period when he moved from Barcelona to Napoli (1984). While he was criticized for the move, he went on to win two Italian titles (Serie A) and the UEFA Cup in 1989 with them.

Inside Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund is known as one of the emerging teams in Germany, and they’re often touted as the team to dethrone Bayern Munich from the top of the German league (Bundesliga).

This documentary follows the German team behind the scenes during their 2018/19 season. Director Ajoscha Pause has done a great job following the lives of stars like Alex Witsel and Marco Reus and how they help the team pull through.

Sunderland ‘Til I Die

Sunderland ‘Til I Die is a documentary that revolves around the 2017/18 season of Sunderland AFC. This was the season when Sunderland was relegated from the Premier League into the EFL Championship.

This documentary was a huge success and prompted the makers to come up with a sequel for their 2018/19 season. A third part of the series is also expected soon.

The Class of ’92

The Class of ’92 was released in 2013 and revolved around the Manchester Academy graduates of 1992. It centers around six superstars – Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, the Neville brothers (Gary & Phil), Paul Scholes, and Niky Butt.

This documentary showed how these new talents won the FA Youth Cup in 1992 and moved on to become big stars and win the Champions League with Manchester United in 1999.

All or Nothing: Arsenal

All or Nothing: Arsenal was part of the Amazon docuseries ‘All or Nothing.’ This documentary follows the exploits of Arsenal Football Club during their 2021-22 season.

The documentary starts with Arsenal winning the FA Cup under legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger in 2016-17. It follows the club as they moved from Wenger’s departure to new managers trying to fill in his shoes. It shows how Arsenal finally found firm footing with Mikel Arteta.

Football in Games

Football Manager and Pro Online Soccer are two games where you play as a manager of a football club of your choosing. You can take them through different tournaments, depending on which league your team belongs to. Apart from these, you can up the ante and opt to play new casino games which also have a football theme. Some that come to mind are Hot Soccer and Football Studio. But whichever game you go for, make sure to just enjoy the experience, and try and relive just a fraction of the excitement the players listed in these documentaries must have felt when getting their team to the top.

Conclusion

Football is undoubtedly one of the most popular sports in the world. The beautiful game has been around for a long time, and its popularity hasn’t waned in the slightest. If you’re an avid football fan, you should consider checking out some of these documentaries. They shed light on rarely seen aspects of the sport and its players and are worth watching.

Published by HOLR Magazine.