Great Dane Football Blog – UK Edition launches a weekly football list. The list is to  be published on Thursdays, and this week’s football list features five must see football films.

1.   Escape to Victory (Victory)
     Released 30 July 1981.

This film is a classic for all nostalgic football fans. A group of allied prisoners of war is interned in a  German prison camp during World War II. The group agrees to play a match against a German team and finds themselves being part of the German propaganda.  The team decides to escape in the halftime of the match, but ends up playing the match to the end, before escaping.  This film features several football legends, as Bobby More, Olsvaldo Ardiles, Kazimierz Deyna, Mike Summerbee, Paul Van Himst, Hallvar Thoresen and Pelé. Goalkeeper for the team is no one else than Sylvester Stallone. This is a must see!


2.  Kicking & Screaming 
    Released 22 July 2005 

Will Ferrell plays the family man Phil Weston, who is suffering from his fathers over-competitiveness. Phil’s son Sam is playing on his grandfathers soccer team, The Gladiators which is the most successful little league soccer team in the district. However, he is only used as a benchwarmer.  When the grandfather transfers Sam to the Tigers, the worst team in the district, Phil decides to coach the team. He now gathers a team of children with no talent at all and takes the battle with his father transfering himself into a maniac. This film feature hilarious scenes and can be watched by people with no clue of how to kick a ball.



3.   Shaolin Soccer (Siu Lam Juk Kao)
     Released 12 November 2001

Mix material arts fighting with football and you get a hilarious football comedy. The main character Sings goal in life is to promote the Shaolin kung fu to the modern society and meets “Golden Leg” Fung, a legendary Hong Kong football star, and together they start their own football team.  Throughout the film, the team is successive and wins almost ridiculous one-sided victories, until they meet Team Evil. A team of players, injected with an American drug, which gives them superhuman strength and  speed. The game is on!


4.   Fever Pitch 
     Released 4 April 1997 

There are football fans and then there is Paul Ashworth. This film is based on the book of the same name written by Nick Hornby. The film concentrates on Arsenal’s First Division Championship winning in 1988-89 and the effect on the main character and his romantic life. This film pictures the emotions of real football fans and is certainly worth watching, especially if you are an Arsenal fan. Make sure you watch the 1997-edition and not the 2005, concentrating on the American baseball team Boston Red Sox. 


5.   Once in a lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of The New York Cosmos 
     Released 19 May 2006

There is room for a documentary film. Once in a lifetime is one of the football documentaries that you simply need to see. This film pictures the rise and fall of New York Cosmos in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. The Cosmos is one of the most famous clubs in North America and changed “soccer” in USA, with players as Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer. Watch the film, if you do not know the story of NY Cosmos. If you do know the story, watch it anyways. The film shows how fast things can turn in football and is quite enjoyable to watch.