Messi's World Cup: The Rise of a Legend: 6 docus every football fan needs to watch

Lionel Messi is often described as the greatest footballer to ever lace up a pair of boots. The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has won every major trophy at club football with his beloved Barcelona after coming through the ranks of the club’s revered youth academy La Masia. However, his crowning achievement came in 2022 towards the tail-end of his career when he spearheaded Argentina to lift the World Cup in 2022. The Apple TV+ documentary chronicles Messi’s journey as he overcame several challenges to finally lift the coveted trophy on his fifth attempt. Today’s List Hai Toh Hit Hai podcast offers you a list of captivating football documentaries that you can stream online.

Welcome to Wrexham - Disney+ Hotstar

The Welsh football club Wrexham remained outside the English Football League for more than a decade, enduring significant financial difficulties after the turn of the millennia. However, after Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased the club, they were propelled to overnight fame worldwide, and the 2023 season culminated with the club finally gaining promotion to the English Football League in the fourth tier. The documentary Welcome to Wrexham focuses on the new Hollywood owners at the club and their struggles to deliver success to a local community that lives and breathes Wrexham AFC.

Take Us Home: Leeds United - Prime Video

Leeds United were once the giants of English football, a club that dominated and found more success than even Manchester United and Liverpool in the ‘70s. However, financial mismanagement in the 2000s saw them being relegated to the lower divisions. The documentary Take Us Home: Leeds United, tells the incredible journey of Leeds United under wily tactician Marcelo Bielsa in their attempts to gain promotion to the top tier of English football – the Premier League.

Beckham - Netflix

Not many footballers have found universal fame in the manner in which David Beckham has achieved over the years. The English superstar is arguably the world’s first footballing global celebrity. The documentary titled, Beckham, chronicles the Englishman’s journey as Manchester United hero, to Real Madrid Galactico, and finally as the man who introduced Major League Soccer to the world. The documentary also focuses on Beckham’s marriage to former Spice Girl Victoria, aka Posh Spice, as well as the personal and professional challenges he endured over the years.

Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story - Disney+ Hotstar

Unlike the other documentaries on this list, Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, does not pivot around a footballer, but instead trains the lens on WAGs of popular stars of the sport. For the unversed, WAGs is termed coined by the British media for the wives and girlfriends of sports stars. The documentary also has elements of a court drama and a whodunit mystery. It tells the story of Coleen Rooney, wife of Manchester United and England legend Wayne Rooney, who used her sleuthing skills to find out that Rebekah Vardy, wife of Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, was leaking information from private social media accounts to the media. The eventual court case that followed led to Vardy accusing Rooney of defamation.

Graham Taylor: An Impossible Job - YouTube

One of the darkest moments of the English national team was in 1993 when the team failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. But not many could’ve envisioned at the time that a documentary crew for a fly-on-the-wall documentation of England’s 18-month World Cup qualification campaign could’ve captured such unprecedented drama within the English camp. It offers a glimpse into the difficulties faced by manager Graham Taylor as his side shockingly failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Super League: The War for Football - Apple TV+

In 2021, the pyramid structure of European club football was under threat when a consortium of nine major football clubs led by Real Madrid and its president Florentino Pérez revealed plans for a breakaway league. The proposed league (called The European Super League) was designed to incorporate only the big clubs in Europe, to rival the UEFA Champions League, and to eliminate the pyramid structure where teams had to earn the right through performance-based merits to enter Europe’s elite club competition. Fans across Europe were outraged by the news and took to the streets in protest. Eventually, most of the clubs dropped out of this proposed plan, and clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool issued statements apologising to their fans. Super League: The War for Football, examines the landmark moment in football, and how it almost broke a century of footballing traditions.

Well that's all the time we got for this episode, until the next one it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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Also Listen | Beckham: 8 football documentaries to watch if you liked Netflix’s docu-series on David Beckham

Written by Ryan Gomez

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