This Is Football

- Season 1

(2019)

How Football Saved Rwanda. One million Rwandans died in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. When it ended after 100 days of horror, the scars of conflict affected each and every survivor. The question the new government faced was how to re-build a country? The answer, as Rwanda's President Kagame tells us, was football. This film is an emotional exploration of the redemptive power of sport and the incredible stories of survival made possible through football. It is told through the fanatical Liverpool fans, the Rwandan Reds, who meet for each match in downtown Kigali...

Japan, USA and the Women's Game. In 2011, an earthquake and tsunami killed 16,000 people in Japan. A country was in mourning and in need of a light at the end of the tunnel. A flicker of belief would come from the unlikeliest of heroes. This film tells the story of the Japanese women's football team and their remarkable World Cup triumph just 3 months after the disaster. But this episode also charts the spread of the women's game and how football conquered America in 1999. With incredible access to key members of the victorious Japanese and American teams from these ...

In Football, the Underdog Always Has its Day. Chance is the giant truth, hiding in plain sight, on which all football games turn. The rarity of goals and the thousand and one ways they can be scored, explain why no other team sport delivers more unexpected, wonderful or unfair results more often. It's one of the key reasons billions love the game. This film explores 'chance' in football, through Germany and some of the greatest games of chance in history. Interweaving the stories of the minnows of Frankfurt winning their first cup for 30 years, how Bayern Munich ...

Football's Greatest Ever Fairy Tale. Iceland, with no professional league and the national team coached by a part-time dentist, are the smallest country to ever qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access, this film follows the Iceland team and their leader, coach Heimir Hallgrimsson, as they head to the finals in Russia. In Iceland we hear from the legion of fans as the entire nation watches and prays. The film also travels to Brazil, the aristocrats of the game, to witness an unlikely transatlantic brotherhood emerging, one forged ...

For the legions of fans across the globe football is an identity, a point of pride and even a source of redemption. But before that comes the love of the game itself. A series of stunning vignettes paint a picture of the world's global sport, each one capturing a different portrait of the human condition, and our essential emotions expressed in it. The film follows England's Blind football team and striker Roy Turnham as they prepare to take part in the pinnacle of their sport, The Blind football world cup. We meet 18-year-old Fezile Hlophe, from Soweto, South Africa,...

Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest living footballer on the planet. He is a 1 in 7.2 billion miracle. A genius in football boots. Michelangelo painted frescos and Mozart composed exquisite symphonies. Messi creates his masterpieces on the canvas of the football field. This film is an immersion into the inspiring beauty of football and a quest to unveil the mystery of the Argentinian's greatness, which transcends the fields of art, science and politics. We speak to a glittering cast of characters who truly understand his talent; from legendary manager and Messi's ...