Women Directors of Soccer Movies

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Of the >400 soccer movies that I have watched, less than 10%  were directed by women. Most of the feature film female directors had no prior knowledge of soccer (football). And yet, by my ratings, female directors have put together some of the best football films. It’s not an explicit gender bias, since I don’t pay attention to who is the director until after I’ve watched the film.

I think these films are better because the women directors, not so emotionally tied to the sport, show deeper characters and relationships. They also inject more humor. Or perhaps this is all my personal bias as to what I find entertaining — after all, this website started from being a soccer mom. However, some of these films are the bigger moneymakers. So I can’t be ALL wrong!

Feature Films Directed by Women

TitleDirectorRatingBox $MCountry
Bend it Like Beckham (2002)Gurinder Chadha1076.6ENG
Green Street Hooligans (2005)Lexi Alexander93.1USA
Africa United (2010)Debs Paterson8ENG
Will (2011)Ellen Perry8 USA
Back of the Net (2019)Louise Alston80.012AUS
Guys and Balls (2004)Sherry Hormann71.1GER-USA
Johan (2005)Nicole van Kilsdonk70.2NED
Bad Parents (2012)Caytha Jentis6 USA
Britt-Marie was Here (2019)Tuva Novotny6SWE
The Big Green (1995)Holly Goldberg Sloan518.0USA
When Saturday Comes (1996)Maria Giese5 ENG-USA
Lost in Africa (Kidnappet) (2010)Vibeke Muasya5FIN

Documentaries Directed by Women

TitleDirectorRatingBox $MCountry
Pelada (2010)Gwendolyn Oxenham10 USA
Forever Pure (2016)Maya Zinshtein10 ISR
Ayaktakimi (2015)Naz Gündogdu9 GER-TUR
Yellow Cards for Equal Pay (2020) (short)Maia Vota9USA
Elite School (2014) aka Die Kaderschmiede: der traum vom profi-fussballJuana Guschl8GER
Alive & Kicking:
The Soccer Grannies of South Africa (2016)

Lara-Ann de Wet
8USA,SA
Futbolistas 4 Life (2018)Jun Stinson8USA
All I Need is a Ball (2020) (short)Elena Molina8Spain
Equal Playing Field (2021)Erin Blankenship , Laura Youngson8ENG
Truth be Told (2022)Jennifer Karson-Strauss8USA
Gascoigne (2015)Jane Preston7ENG
Footeuses (2020) Lyna Malandro Saoucha7FRA
Angel City (2023) (series)Arlene Nelson7USA
Kick Like a Girl (2008) (short)Jenny Mackenie6 USA
Kicking It (2008)Susan Koch6 USA
Soccer Shrines (2010)Mary Lewis6CAN
17 (2017)Widad Shafakoj6 JOR
Khartoum Offside (2019)Marwa Zein6SUD
Goal Dreams (2010)Maya Sanbar5 PAL
Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star (2022)Sara Blecher4RSA

Updated Jul-2-2017, Sep-4-2017, Nov-19-2017, Oct-2-2019, Jan-31-2020, Mar-30-2020, Apr-15-2020, Dec-28-2020, Jan-4-2021, Sep-12-2021, Dec-31-2022, Jan-4-2023, Feb-24-2023, Apr-1-2023, May-4-2023, Jun-8-2023, Jun-13-2023