On June 11, 2026, the opening whistle goes at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, and one half of your household takes ownership of the remote until the final on July 19. That is 104 matches in 39 days, at kick-off times with no respect for your usual viewing rhythm. The fixtures live on the official FIFA World Cup 2026 schedule; this page covers everything around them.
This list works both sides of the couch. Here are the football movies and shows to stream around the 2026 World Cup: three built for the tournament itself, the rest for the gaps between fixtures and for the person who never voted for any of this. Streaming homes shift by region, so where a title moves around, we say so.
The ones made for this exact World Cup
The Rest Is Football (Netflix). Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards have parked their podcast in Times Square for the tournament, with a daily show that kicked off on Netflix on June 10, 2026 and runs through to the final. Forty episodes of match reaction, big-name guests, and the three of them winding each other up. If you cannot watch every fixture, this is the catch-up that feels like being in the room.
Mexico 86 (Netflix). Not a documentary, whatever the title suggests. Diego Luna plays Martín de la Torre, the bureaucrat who hustled FIFA into letting Mexico host the 1986 tournament at short notice, ahead of the United States. Gabriel Ripstein’s comedy-drama arrived on Netflix on June 5, 2026, and it cares far more about backroom politics than anything that happens on a pitch. Ninety-five minutes, one sitting, done.
USA 94: Brazil’s Return to Glory (Netflix). The proper documentary of the pair. Luis Ara’s film revisits Brazil’s fourth World Cup win in 1994, built around home-video footage that two of the squad shot themselves inside the camp. At 86 minutes it makes an easy rest-day watch, and the camcorder angle gives it an intimacy most tournament documentaries never manage. On Netflix since June 7, 2026.
Football shows to stream for the out-voted half of the couch
Ted Lasso (Apple TV+). Still the easiest football sell ever made to someone who does not care about football. An American coach with zero experience of the game takes over a struggling London club and wins the dressing room by being relentlessly decent. Three seasons are on the shelf and a fourth is on the way, so there is plenty of runway if it lands. The football is set dressing; the people are the point.
Welcome to Wrexham (Disney+ or Hulu, depending on region). Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney buy a historic, badly listing Welsh club, and the cameras follow what happens to the whole town around it. Five seasons in, it is still less about the football than about Wrexham itself, which is exactly why people who skip match days end up loving it.
Football movies to stream with the whole household
Bend It Like Beckham (Disney+ in most regions). Gurinder Chadha’s 2002 comedy about Jess, a London teenager playing for a local women’s team behind her parents’ backs. Parminder Nagra and a young Keira Knightley are both terrific, and two decades on it has lost none of its warmth. An easy pick for a mixed-age living room, streaming on Disney+ in most regions with rentals covering the rest.
Next Goal Wins (Disney+ or Prime Video, depending on region). Taika Waititi’s 2023 comedy about Thomas Rongen, the Dutch coach handed the American Samoa job and asked to deliver a single win. Michael Fassbender plays him nicely exasperated, and the whole thing is sweeter than its reviews suggested. Its streaming home is currently Prime Video in some markets and Disney+ in others, so check before you queue it.
For the one who is genuinely in it for the football
Sunderland ’Til I Die (Netflix). The benchmark for club documentaries, mostly because nothing goes to plan. Cameras arrive at Sunderland after relegation from the Premier League expecting a bounce-back story, and instead film a club falling down a hole in front of an entire city. Three seasons, wrapped in 2024, with a final run that pays off everything the first two withheld.
How to plan five weeks of football nights without the argument
The fixture list owns your evenings until July 19, but the gaps between matches do not have to default to a 25-minute scroll. Load a few of these into MatchWatch instead: you each swipe through the deck, and when two of you like the same title, that is the night settled.
The tournament decides the match nights; MatchWatch decides the nights in between.
If none of these eight fits the mood, start wider. Our fresh picks for what to watch tonight cast the broadest net, our round-up of the best TV shows from April 2026 covers the prestige returns still worth a clear evening, and the three-minute MatchWatch guide explains how matching works if this is your first visit.
The team sheet, one more time
Three picks built for the tournament, two for the out-voted, two for the whole household, and one for the supporter who wants the real thing between fixtures. The best football movies and shows to stream around the 2026 World Cup are the ones you both actually press play on, so get them into the deck before the group stage swallows the month. Available in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and the United States.
MatchWatch covers streaming services in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.