Best Sports Movies on Netflix, Ranked: Top 15 Films That Will Leave You Cheering
Whether you’re rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII — or just excited for Reba McEntire’s national anthem, Usher’s half-time show, multiple Taylor Swift sightings, or, hey, maybe just some really good wings and buffalo chicken dip — Feb. 11 probably can’t get here quick enough. To hold you over until game day and satisfy your need for stories about competition and strength, why not check out some top sports movies on Netflix?
There’s a little bit of everything in the mix below, from basketball, football and baseball to mixed martial arts, car racing, wrestling and swimming. There are even some dynamic docs and kid-friendly comedy.
If you make it through all these sports movies on Netflix, fear not: Time magazine noted last year that “sports movies are making a glorious comeback,” and streaming services are the perfect venue on which to catch them. Plus, Hollywood plans to score with plenty more in the future, including Zendaya’s long-awaited big-screen tennis drama Challengers (co-starring The Crown’s Josh O’Connor), which is now set for an April release.
And as baseball’s great Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by just watching,” so step up to the plate and start queuing up some of these great sports movies on Netflix. You’ll catch Yogi on this list, too, which, as the Baseball Hall of Famer might say, is like déjà vu all over again…
15 best sports movies on Netflix, ranked
15. My All-American (2015): Sports Movies on Netflix
Sports films are often based (sometimes loosely) on true stories, and this title is no different. My All-American tackles the tale of Freddie Steinmark (Finn Wittrock), an unlikely college football star at the University of Texas at Austin whose career gets sidelined by an injury and a devastating cancer diagnosis. Aaron Eckhart and Robin Tunney co-star in this film based on the book Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story.
14. Home Team (2022)
For this inspired-by-true-events family comedy, Kevin James stars as the New Orleans Saints’ Sean Payton, a suspended NFL coach trying to bond with his son by volunteering to help out with his youth football squad. Taylor Lautner and Rob Schneider co-star. “[Payton] won the Super Bowl and…did all this stuff, and yet it was not as important as spending time with his kids,” James said of the film’s heartwarming themes.
13. Gridiron Gang (2006): Sports Movies on Netflix
Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson stars as Coach Sean Porter, a probation officer trying to improve the lives of his young inmates at a juvenile detention camp through the discipline of football. The story is loosely based on Santa Monica’s Kilpatrick Mustangs squad in 1990. Rapper Xzibit co-stars as an assistant coach to the team. “The Rock's surprising dramatic magnetism will hold you until the final whistle,” Empire magazine said.
12. Big George Foreman (2023)
Subtitled “The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World,” this biopic tracks the fighter’s challenges and triumphs, both before and after his near-death experience and journey to becoming a preacher. Khris Davis plays Foreman, Forest Whitaker plays trainer Doc Broadus, and Sullivan Jones plays Muhammad Ali. The AV Club says it’s “an excellent movie about a beloved figure who indeed seems ageless and whose story includes the kind of comebacks usually reserved for fiction.”
11. The Hill (2023): Sports Movies on Netflix
Dennis Quaid headlines this baseball flick based on the true story of Rickey Hill (Colin Ford), who, despite having a degenerative spinal condition, strives to become a minor league player. Quaid plays Hill’s father, a tough Texan pastor who’s not quite convinced his son’s quest is a home run. Bonnie Bedelia and country singer Randy Houser (whose song “Rub A Little Dirt On It” is used at the end) co-star. AARP Movies for Grownups calls it “a sincere, inspiring baseball movie grounded in a complicated father-son relationship.”
10. High Flying Bird (2019)
Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh shot this entire drama on an iPhone 8 (!) and it documents a tense 72 hours involving a rookie basketball player and a surprisingly bold opportunity offered to him by an agent (André Holland) during his company’s lockout. It’s “a quick, zingy, all-business sports drama that plays like Jerry Maguire with twin degrees in economics and sociology,” The Guardian says of the film, which co-stars Zazie Beetz and Zachary Quinto, and features real former high-profile NBA rookies Reggie Jackson, Karl-Anthony Towns and Donovan Mitchell.
9. Greater (2016): Sports Movies on Netflix
The inspiring true story of Arkansas Razorbacks offensive guard Brandon Burlsworth (Christopher Severio) is told in this “Rudy-like faith-based inspirational sports biopic [that’s] beautifully and atmospherically shot,” according to the National Catholic Register. The Los Angeles Times promises it’s “just sweet enough and slick enough to appeal to pigskin fans and Christian family audiences.”
8. Gran Turismo (2023)
In this movie based on a true story, Archie Madekwe stars as Jann Mardenborough, a teen fan of the Gran Turismo simulation video game who gets the chance to live out his fantasy as a real-life professional race car driver. Orlando Bloom co-stars as the marketing mastermind behind the move. “It’s one of those, ‘Oh, anything can happen in life, just if you dream hard enough’ [stories],” Bloom says of the inspiring, fast-paced film.
7. First Match (2018): Sports Movies on Netflix
With incredible performances from its two leads, this moving drama tells the story of a teenage girl (Elvire Emanuelle) who, after years bouncing around in foster care, decides to joins the boys’ wrestling team to grab the attention of her estranged dad (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II). Olivia Newman, the film’s writer-director, won a 2018 SXSW Gamechanger Award for her work. “[Emanuelle’s] athletic prowess is impressive, but not nearly as much as what she is able to bring to the heartbreaking world of Monique,” raves Deadline.
6. Nyad (2023)
Dive into this biopic starring Annette Bening as Diana Nyad, who, at 60, swam from Cuba to Florida. Bening and co-star Jodie Foster, who plays Nyad’s coach and friend, have both earned Oscar nominations for their roles. “She swam some days [for] eight hours a day,” Nyad said at an LA screening about Bening’s impressive prep for the role. “We professional swimmers watched her in the footage and said, ‘You can’t tell that that isn’t a professional swimmer.’ You did it, girlfriend.”
5. Rush (2013): Sports Movies on Netflix
Real-life Formula One legend Niki Lauda (played here by BAFTA nominee Daniel Brühl) makes a brief appearance in this dramatization of his fast and furious 70s rivalry with British driver James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth). “Considering the subject matter, Rush delivers the expected visceral jolts; what's surprising is how endearing it is,” notes the Washington Post of the film, which co-stars Olivia Wilde.
4. Facing Nolan (2022)
“The most intimidating pitcher in the history of the game.” “Superman.” “Icon.” “American hero.” These are just some of the ways Nolan Ryan is described in this documentary examining the baseball Hall of Famer who was “feared by opponents, loved by fans and respected by millions.” Along with commentary from Ryan’s wife and kids, you hear from other baseball stars as Pete Rose, Randy Johnson, George Brett, Roger Clemens, and Dave Winfield, as well as from former president and fellow Texan George W. Bush.
3. Warrior (2011): Sports Movies on Netflix
Two estranged brothers (Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy) are forced to confront their past history as they wind up facing off against one another in a mixed martial arts tournament in this hard-hitting family sports drama. Nick Nolte received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as the fighters’ father, a former alcoholic. “Warrior relies on many of the clichés that critics of the genre love to mock — [yet] it transcends them with gripping action, powerful acting, and heart,” says Rotten Tomatoes.
2. Hustle (2022)
Adam Sandler scored a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his turn in this moving story about a struggling basketball scout who finds new hope in a troubled Spanish streetball player (played by Spanish-league and NBA star Juancho Hernangómez). Queen Latifah, Robert Duvall and Jaleel White co-star, and there are also appearances by NBA legends LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, Julius Erving, Seth Curry and Allen Iverson. ABC News critic Peter Travers says the film “radiates love for the game in every frame, traveling down formulaic paths with bracingly fresh results. Hot damn! We have a winner.”
1. Yogi Berra: It Ain’t Over (2022): Sports Movies on Netflix
Derek Jeter, Bob Costas, Willie Randolph, Billy Crystal, Vin Scully, Joe Torre, Don Mattingly and other notables join the baseball great’s family in remembering his athletic achievements, witty Yogi-isms, upstanding character, friendship with Jackie Robinson and more. It ain’t over till it’s over, Berra — a World War II Navy gunner who served at D-Day — once said, and you won’t want this thoroughly entertaining doc about “the most overlooked superstar in the history of baseball,” as Crystal calls him, to end.
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