Dear England Joins the Ranks of Top Football Films Just in Time to Hit World Cup Fever

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has captured the attention of the globe for a myriad of reasons, but ultimately, it’ll be the drama on the pitch that dictates the headlines of the colossal event. Drama is inherent in sport and is why its many forms continue to be so well-supported and manage to generate so much cash.

However, football hasn’t always translated particularly well to what could be seen as the related field of entertainment media. In film, many stories focus too much on skill and self-hyped big games rather than characters, leaving them lacking staying power.

Now, Dear England enters the fray just in time for World Cup fever. Based on the award-winning play by James Graham, it follows Gareth Southgate and England through the mid-2010s, particularly looking at how he tried to get the team and nation past its mental blocks. As detailed in the reviews, it lands very well as a sports drama.

Another Addition to the Selection

Released at the end of May, Dear England is yet another timely addition to the ever-growing selection of football-focused entertainment landing in 2026. Having found tremendous success with its docu-series formula, stretching likely one-hour documentaries into ten or more hours, Netflix has gone big on its football catalogue this spring.

In May alone, Netflix released Untold UK: Jamie Vardy, The Bus: A French Football Mutiny, and Untold UK: Liverpool’s Miracle of Istanbul. In June, the massive streamer put out The Root of the Game, USA 94: Brazil’s Return to Glory, and Norway: The Dark Horse to further feed the need for football content.

It’s not just about giving fans a way to relive the glories of the past, though. In another corner of entertainment, that of slingo, Slingoooal! Shootout has just been released to tap into the inherent draw of a World Cup penalty shootout. Available to play with a bingo bonus, its arrival this month further expands the ways football fans can enjoy the biggest single-sports tournament on the planet.

More Football Film Greats to Watch

Sometimes, it’s worth watching a film not so much for its story or character work, but for an unavoidably appealing complete package of zany plot and star power. Escape to Victory takes place in a World War II prisoner camp, where Michael Caine, Ossie Ardiles, Sylvester Stallone, Bobby Moore, and Pelé take on their captors in a football match.

Fitting right into that zone of ridiculed but beloved, it kicked off one of the more enduring and tedious tropes of football films, with Pelé scoring the winner via an overhead kick. A superb football film that’s often overlooked is The Two Escobars, which combines the crime lord with an unfortunately named Colombia national team player.

Pablo Escobar isn’t any relation to Andrés Escobar, and yet, the crime lord’s prominence in football and demise not long before the 1994 World Cup in the USA weaved into Andrés’ own story. The defender unfortunately scored an own goal in Colombia’s surprise loss to the hosts, costing many in Pablo’s industry to lose some massive bets.

With those two as top watches alongside Dear England, fans can also add An Impossible Job, The Damned United, Next Goal Wins, Bend It Like Beckham, and Shaolin Soccer to the pile while World Cup hype hits a fever pitch.

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