Soccer has had plenty of TV and movie adaptations in recent years. Filmmakers have produced everything from historic fiction (The English Game), thrilling documentaries (Diego Maradona, Sunderland ’Til I Die and Amazon’s All Or Nothing series) and even heartfelt comedies (Ted Lasso).
Almost 365 days later and we’re still in quarantine — oh, the look on your face if I could’ve told you this last March. But don’t fear, good TV is still here! The best soccer movies and TV shows promised in 2021 are compiled below. We’ll update this list when we hear of more.
Sonsational
Note: The following article contains minor spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 3.
Cobra Kai is a ridiculously fantastic TV series. Based on the same characters from the beloved Karate Kid movies of the 1980s, the third season came out on Jan. 1 and I personally binged through it in just a couple of days. The over-the-top antics and rivalries wonderfully mirror the original films while also providing just enough nostalgia with old characters and cameos.
27 days later… it’s time to do it all again. The Apertura season was one of the highlights of quarantine life — Pumas’ four-goal comeback on Cruz Azul might eventually represent my only lasting memory of 2020 — and the Clausura (again renamed “Torneo Guardianes” to honor healthcare workers) promises more of the same beginning on Friday, January 8.
Elite women’s sports are predicted to generate $1 billion in revenue in 2021.
With just a fraction of the investment dollars and comparatively paltry marketing and promotional budgets compared to those allocated to men’s sports, this is conceivably a conservative estimate. As sport emerges from the challenges imposed by COVID-19, women’s sports are becoming a lucrative business opportunity. Don’t believe us? You’re not alone.
It was a feckless decision from CBS to refuse to show any Champions League group-stage matches on TV. Forcing anyone who wants to watch a match from start to finish to pay for CBS All Access is far shadier than Turner Sports’ cash-grab B/R Live service that bombed harder than Quibi.
Borussia Dortmund and SpongeBob SquarePants have collaborated on a lifestyle capsule that includes two hoodies and two T-shirts. Why?
But my guess is because both are yellow, Gio Reyna is SpongeBob, Erling Haaland is Patrick, Marco Reus is “MY LEG!” and Robert Lewandowski is Gary.
It’s nearly a weekly ritual this season. There’s a big slate of Premier League matches on the weekend and NBC decision makers pick which matches go on TV and which matches are thrown into the abyss of streaming services. NBC then posts these spineless choices onto social media and I gawk at the hate-filled comments and replies.
This week, it’s the North London Derby and a Liverpool match that get the shaft, and as usual the fireworks followed.
It was a massive week in U.S. soccer viewership with everyone taking time off for Thanksgiving and hunkering down to watch to incessant onslaught of the Premier League, the start of the MLS Cup playoffs and the business end of the Liga MX Apertura liguilla.
In terms of English-language broadcasts, the highest-rated event between Nov. 23 and Nov. 29 was last Sunday’s dire 0-0 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. An audience of 744,000 tuned in on NBCSN to have their spirits crushed by José Mourinho.
As a cultured Texan, I used to spend my Thanksgivings watching Texas A&M play football against Texas. Alas, this tradition died when the Longhorns, upset over the Aggies leaving for a new conference, refused to continue the tradition with a nonconference game nearly 10 years ago. Instead, my Thanksgiving football tradition has been replaced by watching Arsenal play in the Europa League, for better or worse.