I’m a fan of movies about or that include the sports I love. I remember when Victory came out in July of 1981. My brother, our soccer friends and I thought is was a great movie. We couldn’t understand why everyone didn’t want to go see it. Follow is a list of sports movies that have a place in my heart, in no particular order.

Victory, 1981. Really not that great of a movie other than what is was at the time. Someone looking to cash in on the next big thing in America, soccer. I’m not sure it Sylvester Stallone was supposed to be funny in this but he kind of is anyway. I still like to watch this movie. Quite a few soccer greats from the 70’s have small parts in this movie.

The Cup, 1999. Proof that soccer is religion. Story of a couple of soccerists trying to see the World Cup while living in a monastery. One of my fav’s.

La Gran Final, 2006. This is one of my favorites. It might be hard to find but worth the effort. Three independent stories of people in remotes parts to the world, Brazil, Niger, and Mongolia, trying to watch the 2002 Germany v Brazil World Cup final. Kind of like The Cup (above), where people put in quite the effort just to watch one game.

A Shot at Glory, 2000.

Fever Pitch, 1997. This is the UK version based on the Nick Hornby book of the same name. There is a US version that came out in 2005 based around baseball. This one is better. If your read the book the movie may be a bit of a disappointment but I think that may be the case in most cases of a book being made into a movie. You still get the sense that this is a person obsessed with soccer and more specifically Arsenal. If you do like the movie give the book a try as well.

Breaking Away, 1979. I grew up riding bikes but was never much of a racer. It wasn’t until I saw this movie that I realized people raced bikes in the United States. I still love Dave’s dad screaming about the “Refund? Refund?”. One of the first movies I bought on DVD.

Mean Machine, 2001. When I was growing up Burt Reynolds was one of the big action stars and one of the more popular sports movies of the times was Longest Yard. This is an English remake of the movie but with soccer instead of American football. Staring Vinnie Jones, who holds the record for receiving the fastest yellow card in professional English soccer; 3 second.