10 Soccer TV Shows & Movies To Watch During The 2026 World Cup

I should disclose that director Gurinder Chadha has a fan in me for life. With this movie and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (2008), Chadha can do no wrong in my eyes. As for Bend It Like Beckham, it is one of cinema’s greatest achievements, and I will hear no arguments otherwise. So many fantastic culture writers have written about its significance over the years. 

Bend It Like Beckham is genuinely one of the sharpest and warmest movies ever made. It has peak Y2K fashion, an incredible soundtrack (Spice Girls!), and a wonderful perspective on women in football during the early 2000s. I, like many others, still believe that Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) and Jules Paxton (Keira Knightley) are totally in love. Luckily, there may still be hope. Chadha announced a Bend It Like Beckham sequel was in development last year. 

I struggle to write about my love for Ted Lasso because, like so many people, that show found me right when I needed it. It just so happens to be a great watch for soccer fans who may be new(er) to the sport. The titular coach, Ted (Jason Sudeikis), learning about the game until the end of the third season makes the show an entry point to the beautiful game. Ted Lasso’s “football is life” mantra also has a way of needling into your heart as you watch.

It’s also a contagiously kind show that’s built around a wonderful ensemble. AFC Richmond comes alive with characters like Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), and Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh). The club’s ownership couldn’t be in better hands than that of the layered Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham). It’s also just an ideal time to catch up on the show because Ted Lasso’s returning with a fourth season later this year.

The world’s third oldest professional football club becomes the focal point of this award-winning docuseries. Debuting with Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac’s purchase of Wrexham AFC, Welcome to Wrexham chronicles the football club’s historic back-to-back-to-back promotions. For that reason, this docuseries makes the viewer a part of something special in soccer history. In my experience as a fan of Welcome to Wrexham, it’s impossible not to fall in love with Wrexham AFC while learning about its past and hopes for the future.

It also does such an excellent job of getting to know every corner of the Racecourse, Wrexham AFC’s stadium, and all of the people who exist in and around it. It’s an incredibly well-edited docuseries with quite brilliant, long-form storytelling. It’s also an investment for TV fans since Welcome to Wrexham has been renewed through an eighth season. If you’re looking for even more soccer documentaries in the meantime, Necaxa (2025) is worth the watch, too. 

I’d argue this movie is one of the most underrated in Will Ferrell’s comedies. I didn’t even know about Kicking & Screaming until relatively recently when I was looking for more soccer movies to watch. It’s not perfect, but I don’t need it to be. I’m such a sucker for outrageous physical comedy that I had a great time with it. Maybe the World Cup and Ferrell’s upcoming golf comedy, The Hawk (2026), can bring Kicking & Screaming back into the conversation. 

Ferrell stars as Phil Weston, who begrudgingly steps up to coach his son Sam’s (Dylan McLaughlin) little league soccer team, the Gladiators. Along the way, Phil gets a little too competitively involved, drawing more parallels than he’d like with his father, Buck (Robert Duvall). So, Kicking & Screaming uses soccer as a medium to explore the relationships between fathers and sons, which I broadly enjoyed. It’s also objectively wild that former NFL coach Mike Ditka stars in this as a version of himself to be Phil’s assistant coach.

Yes, the 2026 World Cup is with the men’s team, but next year, it’s all about the women’s teams. LFG is one of many documentaries to help soccer fans get to know the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT). Another is Under Pressure: The U.S. Women's World Cup Team (2023), which follows the team during the 2023 World Cup. As for LFG, it is an impactful and informative documentary about the U.S. Women’s National Team’s fight for pay equity. 

In March 2019, the USWNT sued the United States Soccer Federation over gender discrimination. By 2022, they reached a winning settlement. LFG chronicles that journey with players including but not limited to Megan Rapinoe, Jessica McDonald, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O'Hara, Christen Press, and Sam Mewis. So, LFG is both galvanizing (because these women are inspiring) and infuriating (because it shouldn’t have taken this long for more equity). I still remember what it felt like when I watched it for the first time and learned so much. 

Even though The Beautiful Game is one of the newer entries on this list, it’s still worth checking out amid the World Cup schedule. It is about the real-world, annual Homeless World Cup. It focuses mainly on the England team’s manager, Mal (Bill Nighy), and the team’s striker, Vinny (Michael Ward). They both deliver compelling performances in this one.

However, since soccer is a team sport, it’s a shame that characters don’t get more focus throughout it. It’s also a bit odd that they don’t, since this movie has a lengthy runtime—more than 2 hours. That is what mainly works against The Beautiful Game, but it remains overwhelmingly inspirational. It really shows the reach of the sport and the advocacy work that can be done through it. I like watching how soccer can be both an outlet and a resource.

I can’t write a list of soccer movie and TV show recommendations without featuring something from Mary-Kate and Ashley’s wide-ranging filmography. The twins play Sam and Emma in Switching Goals, where, as you may guess, they switch goals. They swap places to play for the teams they prefer, though, unlike The Parent Trap (1998), their dad, Jerry, is entirely unlikable.

Jerry coaches the Hurricanes, and he doesn’t really treat either daughter well during their time on the team. He’s the one who needs to learn the movie’s evergreen lessons by the end. Honestly, I hoped Denise (Kathryn Greenwood), the twins’ mom, would leave him, but she didn’t. Otherwise, though, Switching Goals is a feel-good watch filled with ‘90s nostalgia. It also has a rogue Michael Cera cameo that I somehow forget about every time I watch it. 

This is another newer movie, inspired by the Next Goal Wins (2014) documentary from Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. Inspired by a true story, Next Goal Wins follows the American Samoa soccer team. With the help of Coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), who is on his own journey, the team plays to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. 

It’s particularly significant because it comes after the American Samoa team made history with a 31-0 loss to Australia in the 2001 World Cup. So, that backdrop alone makes this movie, which is directed by Taika Waititi, a perfect watch during the 2026 World Cup. Also, the World Cup is full of interesting underdog stories. Next Goal Wins is also well worth it just for the standout performance from Kaimana in their film debut as fa’afafine defender Jaiyah Saelua. 

Don’t get this movie confused with the romantic comedy Fever Pitch (2005), starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore. That movie is good as it is for what it is, but it completely changes the heart of the book. Both movies are adaptations of Nick Hornby’s book with the same name, but the early 2000s version is a much looser adaptation than the late 90s one.

Hornby writes about his diehard loyalty to Arsenal F.C. The later adaptation removes that from the equation, making Fallon’s character a Red Sox fan. Though it may seem like the fandom or support could be interchangeable, they’re not, really. So, Fever Pitch (1997) is a better, much closer adaptation of Hornby’s book. It’s a major plus that it stars Colin Firth and Bridgerton’s (2020) Ruth Gemmell. So, if you’re enjoying the World Cup and want to understand more of what it’s like to be a supporter of English club football, this book (and movie) is for you! 

Not only is She’s the Man one of the best movies ever made (if you ask me), but it’s also a brilliant soccer movie. It takes William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and turns it into a Y2K dream, starring Amanda Bynes in arguably her best performance. After her girls’ team is cut, Viola (Bynes) disguises herself as her twin brother at his boarding school to play soccer. Not to mention, Bynes and Channing Tatum’s chemistry is on another level in this movie.

She’s the Man is one of the funniest, most quotable movies I have ever seen. So much so, I think She’s the Man lines may be a part of my everyday language at this point. “When I close my eyes, I see for what you truly are, which is ugly,” is just one of the lines that I still say all the time—and it’s been 20 years since the movie was released. She’s the Man also stars former professional soccer player Vinnie Jones as Viola’s soccer coach at Illyria. It’s just a great time, and it’s a movie that’s become a complete cornerstone in my life. I always come back to it.