December 19th, 1909, Sunday, the fourth Advent. At the Borsigplatz, the big bang happens: The catholic church wants to ban Franz Jacobi and his friends from playing soccer. But the boys rebel against the church and found a soccer club which would later achieve world fame: Borussia Dortmund.
They were called ‘the golden generation’, the young Yugoslavian soccer players who won the Junior World Soccer Championships in 1987 in Chile. They became world-famous and today play in Rome, Milan and Madrid. But the country they represented in Chile no longer exists. Director Vuk Janic talks with soccer heroes like Zvonimir Boban and Sinisa Mihajlovic and visits the neighbourhoods they grew up in. Via the soccer, he tells the story of the disintegration of his country. The supporter riots in 1990 during the match between Red Star Belgrade and Dinamo Zagreb heralded the imminent war. Shortly after, the team fell apart. Seven years later, as national players of Croatia and little Yugoslavia, they compete in two charged qualification matches for the 2000 European Championships. Soccer is not war, but the war is never far away. The first match in Belgrade has to be cancelled due to NATO bombings, and the two national hymns are drowned in deafening whistles from the audience.
Jon Sistiaga gives an inside and outside look into Argentina's Barra Bravas, the world's most violent football fans, who besides being radical fanatics for their club, they're organized as true mafias.
Sergio and his father, Simão, haven’t seen each other for over 20 years. On the eve of the 2014 World Cup, Sergio returns to his hometown, São Paulo, hoping to watch the games with Simão, as they used to when he was a kid. It seems to be a perfect plan for a father-son reunion: a whole month together, their schedule based on the World Cup calendar. But as the days go by, their relationship starts to wander into unknown territory and their pact to watch the entire tournament together turns into a dangerous ritual…
They are the countries that do not exist, the peoples of no nation. In the summer of 2016, as Euro 2016 unleashed international football fever, an even more extraordinary tournament took place: the 'rebel' World Cup. This film documents this surreal and vibrant spectacle through the most fascinating team of the lot: Kurdistan.
Documentary about German soccer manager Rudi Assauer, who'd shaped an era at Schalke 04 Football Club by achieving athletic success as well as saving the license to compete in the Bundesliga in economically difficult times.
Genius, Maverick, Legend, George Best is perhaps the most talented footballer ever to walk the face of the earth. Best was the best, Pele, Cryuff, Maradona – all were superb but Best had their talent and more. George Best had the confidence and arrogance to try absolutely anything – he knew he was a genius and was not afraid to show the world. He revelled in the limelight but as the first of the new superstars, he found himself unable to cope with the temptations thrown at his feet – alcohol, late nights & women. He indulged them all and as a result walked out of top class professional football in 1972 aged just 26.
In the early 1980s, at the beginning of what would become a 12-year-long civil war, El Salvador's talented football team was one national institution upon which both the left and the right could agree. When the team pulled off a stunning 1-0 upset against Mexico and qualified to compete in the 1982 World Cup, it was a high point for the tiny country's national pride. Unfortunately, the team's Cinderella story devolved into a nightmarish farce.
FC Pol Positiu are on a 2 year unbeaten streak in a league made up of players with mental illnesses. On their journeys as a unit and as individuals they contend with hospital admissions, the pressure of the game and what it means to be a team that accepts anyone, no matter who you are.
Documentary that, through its fans, narrates the history of the mythic Boca Juniors stadium "Alberto J. Armando", more well known as "La Bombonera".
A documentary that investigates the cause and effect of the disrupted football match between Dinamo (Zagreb) and Crvena Zvezda (Beograd) on May 13th 1990.
Football Inside dives deep into football culture – and makes the locker room its stage. As soon as they put on their jerseys, pros, women, and juniors all take on different roles, with one thing in common: Their love for the game.
