Soccer Movies Based on True Stories: 8 Films Worth Watching

The best soccer movies based on true stories pick one real moment and build a film around it: an upset, a final, a disaster, a club that refused to quit.

Here are eight, what really happened, and how close each film stays to it.

The Short List

• The Game of Their Lives (2005): the USA beats England at the 1950 World Cup
• The Miracle of Bern (2003): West Germany wins the 1954 World Cup final
• Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016): Pelé's road to the 1958 World Cup
• United (2011): Manchester United and the Munich air disaster
• The Damned United (2009): Brian Clough's 44 days at Leeds
• The English Game (2020): the working-class players who made soccer professional
• Next Goal Wins (2023): American Samoa's first win
• Victory (1981): a wartime match loosely inspired by the Kyiv "Death Match"

The Game of Their Lives (2005)

The true story: on 1950-06-19 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the United States beat England 1-0 at the World Cup. Joe Gaetjens scored the goal.

Directed by David Anspaugh, with Gerard Butler as goalkeeper Frank Borghi and Wes Bentley as Walter Bahr. For an American audience it is the essential one, the country's most famous soccer result on film.

The Miracle of Bern (2003)

The true story: West Germany beat Hungary 3-2 in the 1954 World Cup final in Bern, coming back from two goals down. Helmut Rahn scored the winner. Hungary had been unbeaten for four years.

Directed by Sönke Wortmann and released in 2003, it builds to the final in Bern.

Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016)

The true story: Brazil lose the 1950 World Cup on home soil, and eight years later a 17-year-old Pelé helps them win the 1958 final 5-2 against Sweden.

Directed by Jeff and Michael Zimbalist, with Kevin de Paula as the teenage Pelé. Critics were unkind (33% on Rotten Tomatoes), but the soccer scenes are the draw.

United (2011)

The true story: in 1958 the plane carrying Manchester United's "Busby Babes" crashed at Munich during a refueling stop. Seven players were killed in the crash.

Written by Chris Chibnall and first shown on BBC Two on 2011-04-24. David Tennant plays assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who rebuilt the team for the FA Cup final, with Jack O'Connell as a young Bobby Charlton.

The Damned United (2009)

The true story: in 1974 Brian Clough replaced Don Revie at Leeds United and lasted 44 days.

Directed by Tom Hooper and written by Peter Morgan, with Michael Sheen as Clough. It is adapted from David Peace's novel, which is largely fictional, and several people portrayed, including Johnny Giles and Dave Mackay, took legal action over it. Watch it as drama, not history.

The English Game (Netflix, 2020)

The true story: in the 1870s and 1880s, working-class clubs in Lancashire started paying players, and in 1883 Blackburn Olympic became the first club of working-class background to win the FA Cup. The FA allowed professional players from 1885.

A six-part Netflix series from Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey, following Fergus Suter and Arthur Kinnaird. It compresses events and merges Blackburn Olympic and Blackburn Rovers into one club.

Next Goal Wins (2023)

The true story: American Samoa lost 31-0 to Australia in 2001, the worst defeat in international soccer, then beat Tonga 2-1 in 2011 for their first official win after 38 straight defeats.

Taika Waititi's comedy stars Michael Fassbender as coach Thomas Rongen. It is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name, which is the more accurate version. See The Best Soccer Documentaries.

Victory (1981)

Also called Escape to Victory. Allied prisoners of war play a propaganda match against a German team, and the game becomes an escape.

Directed by John Huston, starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine, with Pelé, Bobby Moore and Osvaldo Ardiles in the team. The story is loosely inspired by the "Death Match" involving Dynamo Kyiv players in occupied Kyiv, but the real events were far more complex than the legend.

Songs About the Same Stories

These films turn one real moment into two hours. FootyTracks turns real moments into three-minute songs. Every one below is in the Listen block above.

• England World Cup Song 2026: the team the USA shocked in 1950
• Germany World Cup Song 2026: the nation that won in Bern
• Brazil World Cup Song 2026: the country Pelé carried to its first title
• Ronaldo at Manchester United: the club rebuilt after Munich, in a later era
• Beckham Red Card Redemption: a true story that is still waiting for its film

More in the Legends and Nostalgia collection.