Top 20 best sporting documentaries - Netflix's 'Beckham' tops the list

23 November 2023 , 16:34

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Netflix's “Beckham”, and Disney+ show “Welcome To Wrexham”, have topped a list – of the 20 greatest sporting documentaries of all time, according to Brits.

It seems football is the sport that people are most keen to see behind the scenes of, making up exactly half of the favourite sports documentaries.

Other legends of the beautiful game that have inspired eponymous documentaries include Pelé, Gazza (Paul Gascoigne), and Diego Maradona.

And elsewhere in the sporting world, people seem to be growing more interested in Formula One, with Netflix show “Drive To Survive”, and 2010 docu-film, “Senna”, also ranking among the top 10.

Meanwhile, in cycling, “Icarus”, and “Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story”, also made the top 20 list.

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It comes as a survey of 2,000 adults found that they have typically enjoyed 10 sports documentaries each – and some have clocked up more than 30.

Top 20 best sporting documentaries - Netflix's 'Beckham' tops the list

The Beckham documentary on Netflix has been named the best sporting documentary of all time (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

A fifth admit that the sports documentary genre is now their “go-to” Saturday night viewing – with 36% even having tuned into a show about a sport they didn't really have an interest in.

And six in ten of those who are not sports fans themselves, really enjoying watching these shows – with 21% watching more sports documentaries now than they have in the last five years.

The research was commissioned to celebrate the launch of Betfair’s new mini-documentary, Serial Winners, which looks at the career of star jockey Rachael Blackmore – who won The Grand National in 2021, and the prestigious Cheltenham Gold Cup the following year.

A spokesman for Betfair said: “It seems we’ve never had such great access to our sporting heroes. In decades gone by, athletes were mysterious and often otherworldly – but now, we can really get a look into what drives them with these high-quality documentaries, which is why we are so excited to give fans a glimpse of Rachael Blackmore’s world.”

The top reasons for enjoying sporting documentaries are for the behind-the-scenes access, and learning about athletes’ struggles and challenges (both 38%). One in three find them inspiring, while 28% enjoy a look at exactly what goes into being a true winner.

And for 25%, seeing a “time capsule” of what life was like in the past – such as The Last Dance’s picture of the USA in the early 1990s – is really enjoyable.

It also emerged 14% of those polled, via OnePoll.com, have even started following a sport they weren’t previously interested in, after watching a documentary about it. And 16% even went as far as to say they now prefer watching sporting documentaries, to live sports.

The study also found 28% would like to see a documentary made about horse racing. The Rachael Blackmore documentary will be unveiled at “The World’s First Movie Premiere at a Racecourse”, at Saturday’s Betfair Chase at Haydock, Merseyside.

Betfair’s spokesman added: “Horse racing is a sport with a rich history, fascinating characters, and a very interesting future, so it’s great territory for documentary film makers. It’s great to see there’s an appetite for sporting films, and it seems to be growing.”