The Best Soccer Documentaries to Watch, From Beckham to Welcome to Wrexham

The best soccer documentaries tell one story well: a club fighting relegation, a star at the peak of his fame, a team trying to win a single game.

Here are the ones worth your time, with where each one streams.

The Short List

• Beckham (Netflix, 2023)
• Welcome to Wrexham (FX and Hulu, 2022 onward)
• Sunderland 'Til I Die (Netflix, 2018 to 2024)
• Diego Maradona (Asif Kapadia, 2019)
• All or Nothing (Prime Video, several clubs and national teams)
• LFG (HBO Max, 2021)
• Pelé (Netflix, 2021)
• Next Goal Wins (2014)
• Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos (2006)

Club Docuseries

Welcome to Wrexham (FX, 2022)

Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds bought Wrexham, a Welsh club in the fifth tier of English soccer, and filmed what happened next. It premiered on FX on 2022-08-24.

The story kept getting bigger. Wrexham won promotion to League Two in 2023, to League One in 2024 and to the Championship in 2025, three promotions in a row.

The series has won 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program in 2023 and 2024. It is the best entry point for an American viewer new to the English league pyramid.

Sunderland 'Til I Die (Netflix, 2018)

The opposite of Wrexham, at least at first. Season 1 follows Sunderland through 2017-18, a year after relegation from the Premier League, and the club goes down again.

Season 2 covers life in the third tier under new owner Stewart Donald. Season 3, released in 2024, follows the 2021-22 season and ends with promotion back to the Championship through the play-offs.

Watch it for the fans. The club is the setting; the city is the story.

All or Nothing (Prime Video)

Amazon's behind-the-scenes series, filmed inside the dressing room across a full season.

• Manchester City (2018): the 2017-18 season under Pep Guardiola
• Tottenham Hotspur (2020): the 2019-20 season, including the arrival of Jose Mourinho
• Juventus (2021): the 2020-21 season
• Arsenal (2022): the 2021-22 season under Mikel Arteta
• Brazil National Team (2020): the 2019 Copa America
• German National Team in Qatar (2023): the 2022 World Cup

The Arsenal season is the one to start with if you follow the current side. It shows the young squad that became title contenders, Martin Odegaard among them.

Player Documentaries

Beckham (Netflix, 2023)

A four-part series directed by Fisher Stevens, released on 2023-10-04. It covers David Beckham's whole career, including the 1998 World Cup red card against Argentina and the backlash that followed.

It was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series. FootyTracks wrote a song about that same redemption arc: Beckham Red Card Redemption, in the Listen block above.

Diego Maradona (2019)

Asif Kapadia's film, made almost entirely from archive footage, much of it never seen before. It premiered out of competition at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

It follows Maradona's years at Napoli, from his 1984 transfer from Barcelona through two Serie A titles and the 1988-89 UEFA Cup.

Pelé (Netflix, 2021)

Directed by Ben Nichols and David Tryhorn and released on 2021-02-23. It runs from Pelé's childhood through his World Cups with Brazil, set against the country's military dictatorship.

The Underdog Stories

Next Goal Wins (2014)

In 2001 American Samoa lost 31-0 to Australia, the worst defeat in international soccer. Directors Mike Brett and Steve Jamison followed the team as coach Thomas Rongen prepared them for 2014 World Cup qualifying.

The payoff is real. On 2011-11-23 American Samoa beat Tonga 2-1, their first official win after 38 straight defeats. The film also follows Jaiyah Saelua, the first transgender player to appear in a FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Taika Waititi later remade it as a comedy. Watch the documentary first.

Once in a Lifetime (2006)

The story of the New York Cosmos and the North American Soccer League, when Pelé, Franz Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto brought the world game to New York. Directed by Paul Crowder and John Dower and narrated by Matt Dillon.

Pelé himself does not appear in new interviews. It is still the best film on how soccer first tried to break America.

US Soccer Documentaries

LFG (HBO Max, 2021)

Directed by Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine. It follows the US Women's National Team's pay discrimination lawsuit against US Soccer.

It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 2021-06-17 and features Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O'Hara, Christen Press and Jessica McDonald.

Once in a Lifetime and Next Goal Wins, above, round out the American side of the list.

Songs About the Same Stories

Documentaries tell the stories in 90 minutes. FootyTracks tells them in three. Every song below is in the Listen block above.

• Beckham Red Card Redemption: from the 1998 red card to the England captaincy
• Young Cristiano Ronaldo Song: the boy from Madeira before the fame
• Messi vs Ronaldo, Who's the GOAT?: the rivalry that could fill its own docuseries
• Odegaard to Odegod: the Arsenal captain from All or Nothing to title contender
• Bernardo Silva Song, Farewell Manchester City: the end of an era at City

More in the Legends and Nostalgia and Player Songs and Tributes collections. For the numbers behind the biggest rivalry, see Messi vs Ronaldo Stats.