Top 10 Football Documentaries Worth Watching

Asif Kapadia's Diego Maradona documentary uses 500 hours of previously unseen personal footage to construct the most intimate portrait of a genius and its self-destruction in football documentary history. Kapadia (director of Amy and Senna) frames Maradona's Napoli years (1984–91) as a Shakespearean tragedy — the golden god who became addicted to cocaine and the attention of the Camorra. The film won the BAFTA for Best Documentary in 2020. Its editing — particularly the sequence contrasting his 1986 World Cup heroics with his growing addiction — is considered some of the finest documentary filmmaking of the decade.

Senna — while technically a motorsport documentary — is included here because it defines the form for all sports documentaries and is required viewing for any sports documentary student. Asif Kapadia's film about Ayrton Senna uses only archive footage and audio, with no talking-head interviews, to construct a genuinely cinematic tragedy about genius, mortality, and institutional corruption. It won the BAFTA for Best Documentary in 2012. Every football documentary made since 2010 has been influenced by its structure.

Amazon's access documentary following Leeds United's Championship seasons under Marcelo Bielsa (2018–20) captured the most tactically obsessive manager in modern football with unprecedented intimacy. Bielsa's 75-minute tactical presentation to the entire Leeds squad — explaining in detail every weakness of their upcoming opponents — became one of the most viewed football footage clips of 2020. The documentary culminated in Leeds' 2020 promotion to the Premier League after 16 years away, producing some of documentary television's most emotionally overwhelming fan-reaction footage.

I Believe in Miracles documents Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest winning back-to-back European Cups (1979, 1980) from a provincial English city with a squad assembled for a fraction of the cost of their European rivals. Director Jonny Owen uses archive footage, player interviews from 35 years later, and the film's title song to create a document of the most unlikely sporting dynasty in European football history. The film includes testimony from players who describe Clough's management style as part genius, part psychological terror, part pure inspiration.

The Two Escobars examines the parallel lives of Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar (who scored an own goal at the 1994 World Cup and was murdered 10 days later) and drug lord Pablo Escobar, whose narco money funded Colombian football in the 1980s and early 1990s. It remains ESPN's highest-rated 30 for 30 documentary and was cited by the New York Times as one of the ten best sports films ever made. The documentary asks profound questions about how corruption, violence, and football intersect in societies where the sport is the primary shared cultural institution.

Amazon's all-access documentary following Manchester City's 100-point 2017–18 Premier League season gave football supporters the first genuine inside view of a Pep Guardiola training session — revealing tactical drills, half-time speeches, and the emotional intelligence behind football's most analytically demanding management style. The scene in which Guardiola confronts Fabian Delph about commitment before a key match is the most watched football management footage of the decade. The All or Nothing format has since been replicated by dozens of clubs.

Next Goal Wins — both the original 2014 documentary and Taika Waititi's 2023 fictional adaptation — documents American Samoa's quest to win their first international football match after their 31–0 defeat to Australia in 2001 (the most lopsided result in international football history). The documentary captures Dutch coach Thomas Rongen's attempt to qualify for the 2014 World Cup with a squad that includes Jaiyah Saelua — the first transgender player to appear in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match. A story of dignity, inclusion, and sporting redemption.

Class of 92 documents the development of Manchester United's extraordinary 1992 FA Youth Cup-winning generation — Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, the Nevilles, Butt — who became the core of United's most successful period. It explores Sir Alex Ferguson's academy philosophy, the role of Eric Harrison as youth coach, and how six players from the same cohort simultaneously reached elite level. The documentary is a rare case of football nostalgia that generates profound insight into talent development, mentorship, and the accidental creation of dynasties.

The 1996 Channel 4 documentary following the England squad at Euro 96 — accompanying the recording of "Three Lions" by Baddiel, Skinner, and the Lightning Seeds — captured a moment of genuine national optimism. England's semi-final exit (losing on penalties to Germany, again) made the documentary a meditation on hope, failure, and the impossibility of English football success. "Football's Coming Home" became the most culturally resonant sports anthem in British history. The documentary is inseparable from the song.

Asif Kapadia's Diego Maradona documentary uses 500 hours of previously unseen personal footage to construct the most intimate portrait of a genius and its self-destruction in football documentary history. Kapadia (director of Amy and Senna) frames Maradona's Napoli years (1984–91) as a Shakespearean tragedy — the golden god who became addicted to cocaine and the attention of the Camorra. The film won the BAFTA for Best Documentary in 2020. Its editing — particularly the sequence contrasting his 1986 World Cup heroics with his growing addiction — is considered some of the finest documentary filmmaking of the decade.

Senna — while technically a motorsport documentary — is included here because it defines the form for all sports documentaries and is required viewing for any sports documentary student. Asif Kapadia's film about Ayrton Senna uses only archive footage and audio, with no talking-head interviews, to construct a genuinely cinematic tragedy about genius, mortality, and institutional corruption. It won the BAFTA for Best Documentary in 2012. Every football documentary made since 2010 has been influenced by its structure.

Amazon's access documentary following Leeds United's Championship seasons under Marcelo Bielsa (2018–20) captured the most tactically obsessive manager in modern football with unprecedented intimacy. Bielsa's 75-minute tactical presentation to the entire Leeds squad — explaining in detail every weakness of their upcoming opponents — became one of the most viewed football footage clips of 2020. The documentary culminated in Leeds' 2020 promotion to the Premier League after 16 years away, producing some of documentary television's most emotionally overwhelming fan-reaction footage.

I Believe in Miracles documents Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest winning back-to-back European Cups (1979, 1980) from a provincial English city with a squad assembled for a fraction of the cost of their European rivals. Director Jonny Owen uses archive footage, player interviews from 35 years later, and the film's title song to create a document of the most unlikely sporting dynasty in European football history. The film includes testimony from players who describe Clough's management style as part genius, part psychological terror, part pure inspiration.

The Two Escobars examines the parallel lives of Colombian footballer Andrés Escobar (who scored an own goal at the 1994 World Cup and was murdered 10 days later) and drug lord Pablo Escobar, whose narco money funded Colombian football in the 1980s and early 1990s. It remains ESPN's highest-rated 30 for 30 documentary and was cited by the New York Times as one of the ten best sports films ever made. The documentary asks profound questions about how corruption, violence, and football intersect in societies where the sport is the primary shared cultural institution.

Amazon's all-access documentary following Manchester City's 100-point 2017–18 Premier League season gave football supporters the first genuine inside view of a Pep Guardiola training session — revealing tactical drills, half-time speeches, and the emotional intelligence behind football's most analytically demanding management style. The scene in which Guardiola confronts Fabian Delph about commitment before a key match is the most watched football management footage of the decade. The All or Nothing format has since been replicated by dozens of clubs.

Next Goal Wins — both the original 2014 documentary and Taika Waititi's 2023 fictional adaptation — documents American Samoa's quest to win their first international football match after their 31–0 defeat to Australia in 2001 (the most lopsided result in international football history). The documentary captures Dutch coach Thomas Rongen's attempt to qualify for the 2014 World Cup with a squad that includes Jaiyah Saelua — the first transgender player to appear in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match. A story of dignity, inclusion, and sporting redemption.

Class of 92 documents the development of Manchester United's extraordinary 1992 FA Youth Cup-winning generation — Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, the Nevilles, Butt — who became the core of United's most successful period. It explores Sir Alex Ferguson's academy philosophy, the role of Eric Harrison as youth coach, and how six players from the same cohort simultaneously reached elite level. The documentary is a rare case of football nostalgia that generates profound insight into talent development, mentorship, and the accidental creation of dynasties.

The 1996 Channel 4 documentary following the England squad at Euro 96 — accompanying the recording of "Three Lions" by Baddiel, Skinner, and the Lightning Seeds — captured a moment of genuine national optimism. England's semi-final exit (losing on penalties to Germany, again) made the documentary a meditation on hope, failure, and the impossibility of English football success. "Football's Coming Home" became the most culturally resonant sports anthem in British history. The documentary is inseparable from the song.