World Cup: Best Asian Soccer Movies

This is the only time we could probably say that soccer’s popularity is at its highest peak right now because of the World Cup. We’re excited that the USA finally overcame some demons to get past Ghana and some of our mother countries got through the first round.

But here at the Pacific Arts Movement, what’s the World Cup mean to us? The best Asian soccer movies.

1. The Game of Their Lives (2002, #SDAFF)

The documentary follows the seven surviving members of the 1966 North Korean national soccer team and their unlikely victory over the Italian national team. I bet you didn’t know that there was even a NORTH Korean soccer team.

2. Shaolin Soccer (2001)

A classic comedy directed, written and acted by the amazing Stephen Chow. Stephen Chow plays a former Shaolin monk who reunites his brothers to play soccer to in a million-dollar tournament. That’s the basic summary, but it won’t make sense with the amount of wildly insane Kung-fu scenes that amuses and follows in suit of a Stephen Chow film.

3. Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

A young soccer-crazed Indian-British woman wants to buck tradition and play professional soccer like her idol, David Beckham. Set in England, Bend It Like Beckham saw success overseas and got run time here in America. If someone wants to re-create this story again and do it well, Pacific Arts Movement would be ears– NOT A REAL CO-SIGN.

4. The Cup (1999)

A young Buddhist monk obsessed over the upcoming World Cup wants to break tradition and watch it in their Himalayan monastery. The film is charming because it is seen through young eyes and directed by a real Buddhist monk. There are moments of learning, but what the film does best out of the listed is blend real-life and sport. The young monk journeys away from the monastery to enlist help from others and non-monks who sympathize with his simple request.*In doing the research for this post, Hip Hip Hurray (1983) pops up as India’s best soccer film, but I have to find a copy to watch.