The 5 best soccer docs streaming right now

With the international break disrupting the professional soccer leagues in North America and Europe, you might be at a loss for what to watch this weekend. Don't worry, we have you covered: Here are the five best soccer documentary movies and series available for streaming.

As always, Hudson River Blue reviews include a link to the current streaming service, the running time of the movie or series, and if the language and subject matter are suitable for young viewers.

Without further ado, here are the five best soccer docs streaming right now.

5. The Final: Attack on Wembly (2024)

• Player Rating: 7.8
• Stream: Netflix
• Running Time: 1 hr 22 mins
• Audience: Ages 16 and Older (there's ample cursing)

A gripping deconstruction of the Euros final held at London's Wembley Stadium in 2021, when a mob of drunk, coked-up fans descended on the arena hours before kickoff to hang around outside and drink some more. Some 2,000 ticketless fans forced their way into the stands, while thousands more outside were testing the barricades looking for a way inside.

The documentary speaks to officials, eyewitnesses, and members of the mob who remain untroubled by the roles they played — and whose language isn't suitable for children. Even more compelling, the head of security that day tells of the relief he felt when England lost: Had they won, there would have been a full-on riot as the thousands still outside likely would have stopped at nothing to get inside to watch England win their first major trophy since 1966.

You can find the full review here.

Now Streaming | The Final: Attack on Wembley

The riveting Netflix doc looks at how a mob of drunk and coked-up England fans broke into Wembley in 2021 during the Euros final — and how it could have been much worse.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

4. The Billion-Dollar Goal (2023)

• Player Rating: 8.0
• Stream: Paramount+
• Length: 3 episodes, 33-40 mins each
• Audience: Ages 13 and older (there’s some cursing)

Only one of the three episodes is focused on the titular Paul Caligiuri goal to qualify the US men’s national team for the 1990 World Cup, but the series still entertainingly retells the histories of some foundational events for soccer in America, with a focus on the USMNT’s decades-long struggle to return to a World Cup after 1950.

The series features and is dedicated to late soccer journalist Grant Wahl, who appears throughout in what is ultimately an informative, insightful, not too serious, boring, or stuffy retelling of American soccer’s rise. It’s highly recommended for any USMNT fans, or American-soccer-history-curious fans who may not know about the ins and outs of the sport’s rocky past in the United States.

You can find the full review here.

Now Streaming: The Billion-Dollar Goal

The entertaining CBS Sports docuseries retells the foundational events of American soccer — and it’s a great tribute to Grant Wahl.

Hudson River BlueAndrew Leigh

3. Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In (2021)

Player Rating: 8.0
Stream: Paramount+
Running Time: 1 hr 48 mins
Audience: Ages 13 and older

This hagiography glosses over many of the testy moments of Sir Alex's 27-year reign at Manchester United. But Never Give In strikes gold when retelling the story of his unhappy days playing as a striker for Rangers in the 1960s, and his wife's Catholic faith marginalized him despite Ferguson scoring 25 goals in 41 appearances.

Then there's his managerial triumph at Aberdeen, where he guided a team that trained in a public park to three titles and wins over Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup. These and other moments are enough to carry the film, and make it interesting viewing for the neutral fans among us who aren't so invested in Manchester United.

You can find the full review here.

Now Streaming: Sir Alex Ferguson – Never Give In

This hagiography glosses over much, but the stories about playing striker for Rangers and managing Aberdeen to a European cup win are worth the price of admission.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

2. Beckham (2023)

Player Rating: 8.2
• Stream: Netflix
• Length: 4 episodes, 66-77 mins each
• Audience: Ages 13 and older

Beckham works because David Beckham’s story is so good: Who doesn’t want to be a fly on the wall in the Manchester United locker room in the late 90s?

The doc was made with the full cooperation of the Beckhams, so you ain’t going to learn where the bodies are buried. But the archival footage – plus some juicy interviews with Diego Simeone, Figo, Gary Neville, and other heavies from the time – make the series worth watching.

You can find the full review here.

Now Streaming: Beckham

The four-part Netflix documentary series is worth watching even if it gives the Beckhams a pass.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand

1. Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story (2023)

• Player Rating: 8.5
• Stream: Hulu
• Running Time: 3 episodes, 44 to 48 minutes each
• Audience: Ages 13 and Older

Gripping, sensational, and thoroughly entertaining: You don’t need to know anything about the scandal involving Coleen Rooney, wife of Wayne Rooney, and Rebekah Vardy, wife of Jamie Vardy, to enjoy this series. In fact, you don’t need to know anything about football. Wagatha is more a British procedural than a soc-doc, and the story is so gripping, and moves at such a crisp pace, that you should set aside enough time to binge-watch all three episodes in one sitting.

You can find the full review here.

Now Streaming: Coleen Rooney – The real Wagatha story

Here’s why you’ll binge-watch all three episodes of this gripping and wildly entertaining docuseries.

Hudson River BlueOliver Strand