Women Directors of Soccer Movies

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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

TitleYearDirectorRBoxCOD/N
172017Widad Shafakoj6JORDocu
Africa United2010Debs Paterson8ENGNarrative
Alive & Kicking: Soccer Grannies2016Lara-Ann de Wet8USA,RSADocu
All I Need is a Ball (short)2020Elena Molina8ESPDocu
Angel City (series)2023Arlene Nelson7USADocu
Ayaktakimi2015Naz Gündogdu9GER,TURDocu
Back of the Net2019Louise Alston8$12 kAUSNarrative
Bad Parents2012Caytha Jentis6USANarrative
Baggio: The Divine Ponytail2021Letizia Lamartire6ITADocu
Bend it Like Beckham2002Gurinder Chadha10$77 MENGNarrative
Boisko Bezdomnych2008Kasia Adamik7POLNarrative
Britt-Marie was Here2019Tuva Novotny6SWENarrative
Dennis Viollet: A United Man2016Rachel Viollet7USADocu
Elite School (Die Kaderschmiede)2014Juana Guschl8GERDocu
Equal Playing Field2021Erin Blankenship , Laura Youngson8ENGDocu
Footeuses2020Lyna Malandro Saoucha7FRADocu
Forever Pure2016Maya Zinshtein10ISRDocu
Futbolistas 4 Life2018Jun Stinson8USADocu
Gascoigne2015Jane Preston7ENGDocu
Goal Dreams2010Maya Sanbar5PLEDocu
Green Street Hooligans2005Lexi Alexander9$3 MUSANarrative
Guys and Balls2004Sherry Hormann7$1 MGERNarrative
In the Game2015Maria Finitzo7USADocu
Johan2005Nicole van Kilsdonk7$200 kNEDNarrative
Khartoum Offside2019Marwa Zein6SUDDocu
Kick Like a Girl (short)2008Jenny Mackenie6USADocu
Kicking It2008Susan Koch6USADocu
La Hija de Dios (series)2023Lorena Muñoz6ARGDocu
Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France2016Sonia Dauger7FRADocu
LFG2021Andrea Nix6USADocu
Lionesses: How Football Came Home2022Poppy de Villeneuve10ENGDocu
Lost in Africa (Kidnappet)2010Vibeke Muasya5FINNarrative
New Generation Queens2015Megan Shutzer7USADocu
Pelada2010Gwendolyn Oxenham10USADocu
Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star (series)2022Sara Blecher4RSADocu
Soccer Shrines2010Mary Lewis6CANDocu
Soccer’s Lost Boys2010Mariana van Zeller7USADocu
StreetKids United 2: The Girls of Rio2015Maria Clara Costa6NEDDocu
The 99ers2013Erin Leyden10USADocu
The Big Green1995Holly Goldberg Sloan5$18 MUSANarrative
The English Game (series)2020Birgitte Stærmose9ENGNarrative
The Other Zoey2023Sara Zandiehhttps://www.imdb.com/name/nm3182755/7USA
The Rescue2021Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi 8USADocu
Truth be Told2022Jennifer Karson-Strauss8USADocu
When Saturday Comes1996Maria Giese5ENG,USANarrative
Will2011Ellen Perry8USANarrative
Yellow Cards for Equal Pay (short)2020Maia Vota9USADocu
Zanzibar Soccer Dreams2016Florence Ayisi , Catalin Brylla5ZANDocu

This table is implemented via Tobias Bäthge’s Tablepress plugin.


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