Soccer is the world’s most popular sport for a reason. Participation in the World Cup is a source of national pride, clubs galvanize local communities, and teams and players transcend the traditional borders of fandom. Sports documentaries focus as much on interpersonal, real-life drama as they do on the plays they chronicle — giving the audience a glimpse of the personalities, motivations, and behind-the-scenes forces that make their stories possible. 

If you’re looking to feed your soccer obsession, or just want to learn more about the sport, read on — these docs tell the stories of the legendary clubs, lovable losers, icons, and talented outcasts. 

An added bonus: For soccer superfans who’ve ever dreamed of running their own clubs, download the new Football Manager 26 Mobile game, now available to play via the Netflix app.

Anelka: Misunderstood

If you grew up watching Premier League soccer, you’re probably familiar with Nicolas Anelka, the enigmatic and controversial French striker who played for Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and many other teams. In this 2020 documentary, Anelka tries to settle the score about his career: his undeniable talent, his many squabbles with coaches, his antagonistic relationship with the press and his missed opportunities. As a documentary subject, Anelka is charismatic and charming, albeit extremely defensive about his image and how he’s portrayed in the press. It’s a fascinating psychological portrait of a divisive figure, but interviews with his former teammates and coaches, like Thierry Henry, Patrice Evra, and Arsene Wenger, paint a more detailed picture of the now-retired soccer star.

Anelka: Misunderstood

1h 34m   TV-14   2020

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Bad Sport

Episode 3, “Soccergate”

While Juventus has certainly solidified its place as an Italian soccer legend, its winning run hasn’t been scandal-free. Perhaps the biggest blight was its 2006 Calciopoli match-fixing scandal, which forced the team to compete for a season in a lesser division, Serie B. During the 2004–2005 Serie A season, Juventus’ general managers paid Italian match officials to appoint referees who’d make calls in the team’s favor. Juventus eventually had its title stripped and the points accrued from that season were terminated (other Italian clubs like Milan, Reggina, and Lazio were also implicated and punished). It’s a shameful mark on Italian soccer history, but it’s a corruption story worth telling.

Bad Sport

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2021

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Beckham

David Beckham shot to fame thanks to his success on the soccer field, as well as the public fascination around his marriage to fashion designer and former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham. This four-part docuseries from Academy Award–winning director Fisher Stevens (Palmer, And We Go Green, The Cove) and Academy Award– and Emmy Award–winning producer John Battsek (One Day in September, Searching for Sugar Man, Winter on Fire) delves deep into the life of the athlete and pop culture icon, with insights from his family, friends, and teammates. “It’s not just about my football career, but it’s about my family, it’s about being married to a Spice Girl, and my journey, really,” Beckham told Tudum. “It’s been a roller coaster of emotions, but it’s been special making it.”

Beckham

Limited Series   TV-MA   2023

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Boca Juniors Confidential

In 2004, the British newspaper The Observer released a list of “50 Sporting Things You Must Do Before You Die” and at the top was the Superclásico, the rivalry game between Buenos Aires clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate. These two clubs are the titans of Argentine soccer, and the matchup between them, according to The Observer, is “the most intense in Argentine football and, perhaps, in the whole of Latin America: the game is a riot of color, noise and energy.” Boca Juniors Confidential takes an in-depth look at the trials and triumphs of their 2017–2018 season. At the start, the club is dealing with injuries to key players, and new players are immersing themselves into the team: Carlos Tevez, previously a Boca Juniors legend, returns to the squad and Ramón “Wanchope” Ábila comes on board. The most affecting storyline concerns player Lisandro Magallán: His father dies midseason, and Magallán continues to pursue a law degree in his honor. This is the perfect introduction to Argentine soccer.

Boca Juniors Confidential

4 Episodes   TV-PG   2018

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Captains of the World

From the locker room to the pitch, Captains of the World dives into the trials and triumphs of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. This six-part docuseries goes behind the scenes with the captains, players, and coaches — including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Kane, and Gareth Bale — revealing their strategies, rivalries, and moments of glory on and off the field. Bursting with stadium buzz, shocking upsets, and hard-fought victories, each episode captures the drama and high stakes that define soccer’s biggest tournament.

Captains of the World

6 Episodes   TV-MA   2023

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First Team: Juventus

Turin’s Juventus is the winningest soccer club in Italy, and First Team: Juventus homes in on the team’s culture, ethos and immense resources. Pairing this series with Sunderland ’Til I Die is a jarring experience, as Juventus expects to win consistently and actually follows through. The team’s stadium, practice facilities and offseason training camp grounds are immaculate; the sign of a club with lots of money to get the job done. Giorgio Chiellini, a longtime defender and team member, calls winning “an obsession” for the squad. While First Team: Juventus is full of excellent storylines about the 2017–2018 team — like the quest for Champions League glory and top goal-scorer Gonzalo Higuain’s up and down form on the pitch — at the heart of the series is the impending retirement of goalkeeper Gigi Buffon. Then 39 years old, Buffon had been with the club since 2001, and his storied tenure made him inseparable from Juventus’ ethos. While this documentary is a fascinating look at a winning team culture, it’s really an affecting portrayal of an athlete who knows he should retire but isn’t quite ready to hang up his gloves. 

First Team: Juventus

2 Seasons   TV-PG   2018

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Losers

Episode 2, “The Jaws of Victory”

This episode of Netflix’s Losers docuseries centers around the small English football club, Torquay United. Most soccer leagues in Europe have a promotion and relegation system so that the worst teams move down a division and the best teams move up one. (Imagine if the New York Yankees lost so many games that the team ended up in the AAA minor league.) Losers follows Torquay United’s 1987 season, when the club faced not only relegation but dissolution (there simply weren’t any lower leagues). Though the stakes were high and the chances of survival slim, this episode is an extremely charming and extremely bizarre tale of how a bunch of underdogs manage to band together. It gets so strange that the season is ultimately decided by a police dog that disrupts a game.

Losers

8 Episodes   TV-MA   2019

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Maradona in Mexico

Diego Maradona is one of the most celebrated and charismatic figures in the history of soccer. The late Argentine goal-scoring legend’s on-field achievements are matched only by his larger-than-life persona. (Maradona’s hand-ball goal at the 1986 World Cup inspired Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God.) Maradona in Mexico finds the long-retired athlete in 2018, when he’s the surprise hire to coach Dorados de Sinaloa, the worst team in Mexico’s second division. It opens with the colorful Maradona getting booted from a game for insulting the opposing team’s coach and referees. The subsequent episodes show Maradona stealing every scene, igniting the team with hope and the fortitude to actually change its luck and win matches. Though Maradona died from a heart attack in 2020, Maradona in Mexico documents a complicated legend who still managed to inspire later in life. Where other documentaries tackle the dark side of Maradona’s life, like his history with substance abuse, this focuses on his charm.

Maradona in Mexico

Limited Series   TV-MA   2019

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Neymar: The Perfect Chaos

This three-episode docuseries dissects the prolific Brazilian soccer player turned global icon. While the series spotlights Neymar’s stratospheric rise and undeniable talent as a Paris Saint-Germain striker, emerging fashion powerhouse, and influencer, it also delves into the darker aspects of fame.

While Neymar is an inspirational figure — especially for those who grew up playing soccer in the streets of Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo — The Perfect Chaos shows the iconic athlete navigating the overwhelming pressures and isolation that come with being a singular sports figure. In a world where athletes often seem godlike, this documentary is a reminder of the human behind the incredible on-field successes.

Neymar: The Perfect Chaos

Limited Series   TV-MA   2022

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Pelé

Pelé, the first global soccer star, is an all-time icon in the sport. He scored an unfathomable 1,279 goals in the 1,363 games of his career, and is still the only player to win three World Cups. Pelé does an excellent job surveying his meteoric rise from a poor kid who shined shoes in Bauru, São Paulo, to a Brazilian soccer legend. But the documentary really shines when it dissects Pelé’s political neutrality after the US-backed 1964 military coup that made Brazil a regressive dictatorship. The film asks tough questions about what athletes are capable of when it comes to social justice and how difficult change can be under an oppressive government. Even with these thorny issues, the film will make you deeply appreciate the way Pelé brought the sport to even more global prominence, handled the immense pressures of fame and played the game beautifully. 

Pelé

1h 48m   TV-14   2021

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The Playbook

Episode 2, “Jill Ellis”; Episode 3, “José Mourinho”

Jill Ellis coached the US Women’s National Soccer Team from 2014 to 2019 as the team ranked No. 1 for six years straight and won two consecutive World Cups. José Mourinho is one of the most celebrated managers in soccer, winning multiple league titles, including two Champions League titles, and countless other accolades. Netflix’s The Playbook, a series that dives into the tactics, mindsets and histories of these celebrated coaches through their own rules for success, devotes episodes to both. In Ellis’ episode, viewers learn about her personal sky-high standards and how competing with oneself becomes a necessary aspect of accomplishing goals. In Mourhino’s episode, audiences get a glimpse of what makes the pugnacious and charismatic tactician tick — a sample rule: “If you are prepared for the worst, you are prepared.”

The Playbook

5 Episodes   TV-MA   2020

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Sunderland 'Til I Die

If you’re pining for a fly-on-the-wall look at amazing athletes and coaches banding together to secure a win, this isn’t it. Though there isn’t a happy ending, this series is arguably the best of the bunch. It follows Sunderland AFC, a struggling club that’s just been relegated from the top division of English soccer, the Premier League, to the second tier, the Championship. What follows is an affecting portrait of resilience where ever-loyal fans still rally around their team during tough stretches, the team staff try to keep it all together, and the players manage to squeak out a few wins. While not always a fun watch, it’s perhaps the best look at what happens to a team and a city when the results don’t go their way.

Sunderland 'Til I Die

3 Seasons   TV-MA   2018

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Under Pressure: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team

This revealing docuseries follows the US women’s national soccer team in the lead-up to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, giving an inside look at the athletes and coaches as they strive to capture their third consecutive championship title. It’s no secret that the team fell short in this goal, but Under Pressure delves into the joys and hardships that became part of that journey — all the way up to the heartbreaking conclusion. The series explores issues off the pitch, too, ranging from personal journeys to injuries, equal pay, and upholding legacies. It features veteran champions including Alex Morgan and Lindsey Horan, 18-year-old rising star Alyssa Thompson, and US Women’s World Cup Team first-timers Lynn Williams, Kristie Mewis, and Savannah DeMelo. 

Under Pressure: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team

Limited Series   TV-MA   2023

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Additional reporting by Meena Jang.