Of the >450 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 (Narratives) and Documentaries directed or co-directed by Women
Title Year Director R Box CO D/N
17 2017 Widad Shafakoj 6 JOR Docu
Africa United 2010 Debs Paterson 8 ENG Narrative
Alive & Kicking: Soccer Grannies 2016 Lara-Ann de Wet 8 USA,RSA Docu
All I Need is a Ball (short) 2020 Elena Molina 8 ESP Docu
An Invisible Victim – The Eliza Samudio Case 2024 Juliana Antunes 6 Brazil Docu
Angel City (series) 2023 Arlene Nelson 7 USA Docu
Ayaktakimi 2015 Naz Gündogdu 9 GER,TUR Docu
Back of the Net 2019 Louise Alston 8 $12 k AUS Narrative
Bad Parents 2012 Caytha Jentis 6 USA Narrative
Baggio: The Divine Ponytail 2021 Letizia Lamartire 6 ITA Docu
Bend it Like Beckham 2002 Gurinder Chadha 10 $77 M ENG Narrative
Boisko Bezdomnych 2008 Kasia Adamik 7 POL Narrative
Britt-Marie was Here 2019 Tuva Novotny 6 SWE Narrative
Christmas in Notting Hill 2023 Ali Liebert 6 USA,CAN,ENG Narrative
Copa 71 2023 Rachel Ramsey , James Erskine 7 USA Docu
Dennis Viollet: A United Man 2016 Rachel Viollet 7 USA Docu
Elite School (Die Kaderschmiede) 2014 Juana Guschl 8 GER Docu
Equal Playing Field 2021 Erin Blankenship , Laura Youngson 8 ENG Docu
Footeuses 2020 Lyna Malandro Saoucha 7 FRA Docu
Forever Pure 2016 Maya Zinshtein 10 ISR Docu
Futbolistas 4 Life 2018 Jun Stinson 8 USA Docu
Gascoigne 2015 Jane Preston 7 ENG Docu
Goal Dreams 2010 Maya Sanbar 5 PLE Docu
Green Street Hooligans 2005 Lexi Alexander 9 $3 M USA Narrative
Greener Grass 2019 Jocelyn DeBoer , Dawn Luebbe 3 $76 k USA Narrative
Guys and Balls 2004 Sherry Hormann 7 $1 M GER Narrative
Home Games Домашні ігри2018 Alisa Kovalenko 7 UKR Docu
In the Game 2015 Maria Finitzo 7 USA Docu
Johan 2005 Nicole van Kilsdonk 7 $200 k NED Narrative
Kids Cup ’ – Bortebane2021 Line Hatland 7 NOR Docu
Khartoum Offside 2019 Marwa Zein 6 SUD Docu
Kick Like a Girl (short) 2008 Jenny Mackenie 6 USA Docu
Kicking It 2008 Susan Koch 6 USA Docu
La Hija de Dios (series) 2023 Lorena Muñoz 6 ARG Docu
Las Leonas 2022 Isabel Achaval , Chiara Bondì 8 ITA Docu
Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France 2016 Sonia Dauger 7 FRA Docu
LFG 2021 Andrea Nix 6 USA Docu
Lionesses: How Football Came Home 2022 Poppy de Villeneuve 10 ENG Docu
Lost in Africa (Kidnappet) 2010 Vibeke Muasya 5 FIN Narrative
New Generation Queens 2015 Megan Shutzer 7 USA Docu
Onye Egwu 2023 Uche Jombo 3 NGA Narrative
Pelada 2010 Gwendolyn Oxenham 10 USA Docu
#SeAcabó – It’s All Over 2024 Joanna Pardos 10 ESP Docu
Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star (series) 2022 Sara Blecher 4 RSA Docu
Soccer Shrines 2010 Mary Lewis 6 CAN Docu
Soccer’s Lost Boys 2010 Mariana van Zeller 7 USA Docu
StreetKids United 2: The Girls of Rio 2015 Maria Clara Costa 6 NED Docu
The 99ers 2013 Erin Leyden 10 USA Docu
The Beautiful Game 2024 Thea Sharrock 7 ENG Narrative
The Big Green 1995 Holly Goldberg Sloan 5 $18 M USA Narrative
The English Game (series) 2020 Birgitte Stærmose 9 ENG Narrative
The Football Aficionado 2022 Sharmin Mojtahedzadeh 7 IRN Docu
The Ladies with Style – Banyana ba Style2022 Caroline Brouckaert 8 RSA Docu
The Other Zoey 2023 Sara Zandieh 7 USA Narrative
The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life 2020 Sarah Feeley and Alex Stapleton among others 9 USA Docu
The Rescue 2021 Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi 8 USA Docu
Truth be Told 2022 Jennifer Karson-Strauss 8 USA Docu
Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team 2023 Rebecca Gitlitz 5 USA Docu
Untold: Hope Solo vs US Soccer 2024 Nina Meredith 8 USA Docu
When Saturday Comes 1996 Maria Giese 5 ENG,USA Narrative
Will 2011 Ellen Perry 8 USA Narrative
Yellow Cards for Equal Pay (short) 2020 Maia Vota 9 USA Docu
Zanzibar Soccer Dreams 2016 Florence Ayisi , Catalin Brylla 5 ZAN Docu
Note on Jan-7-2024: I used to have 2 tables, one for feature films and one for documentaries, but now that the number of films is up to 47, I have decided to use just a single sortable table. I also discovered that I was missing about 15 films, so this list has suddenly gotten much bigger, and the percentage went from <10% to uhhhh 10%. Change is slow.
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, Jan-7-2024, Jan-25-2024, Jan-31-2024, Apr-13-2024. Apr-25-2024, Aug-17-2024, Nov-13-2024, Nov-17-2024, Nov-19-2024, Dec-9-2024, Jan-1-2025, Jan-11-2025, Apr-24-2025
