From obscure sports and tournaments far from the spotlight to documentaries chronicling the biggest stars in the sports world, the category has a lot to offer sports fans and those simply just looking for a good drama.
The 15 Best Sports Documentaries to Watch on Netflix in 2020
Instead, these documentaries, which cover everything from baseball to wrestling to dogsled racing, not only show us the power of competition, but why we compete in the first place: the love of the game.
A team that featured future actor Kurt Russell, managed by his father, and the iconic Jim Bouton seeking a comeback after his major league tell-all essentially forced his retirement, the Mavericks earned their name—and this 2014 doc is a great dive into this true-life underdog story.We all know about the Michael Jordans and Michael Phelps of the world. You’ve probably seen the Highland Games played in Scotland in one form or another, but it’s unlike you actually knew what the hell was going on. The guys who come close, but miss their mark by a mere second, inch, or point? One unique aspect of the show was the role academic advisor Brittany Wagner had in shepherding the players through their semesters, trying to balance play on the field with performance in the classroom and personal growth off the field.
The racing docuseries is beloved by auto enthusiasts and Netflix bingers alike, as it takes an inside look at the cut-throat world of open-wheel racing. But what about the second-place finishers? Forgotten footnotes in the annals of sports history.
So when rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson set out to scale Yosemite’s Dawn Wall in 2015, it was just one more challenge—albeit a steep one, a 3,000-foot rock face they lived on for weeks.The Manassas Tigers high school football team had spent years turning in losing seasons. Steve Carrell’s turn as du Pont in the 2014 film They’d spent their lives overcoming obstacles. Kids Golf World Championship.
This 2017 profile of Vinsanity follows the career of the All-Star, still playing at age 42, featuring interviews with his contemporaries like Steve Nash and Tracy McGrady, along with noted Raptors fan Drake.Recall the old Rodney Dangerfield quip: “I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out!” Fighting has long been part of the sport, and this 2016 documentary—which features interviews with NHL greats like Chris Chelios and Brett Hull—digs into the role enforcers play in the game.Director Jennifer Peedom's cultural history provides a broad look at mountains across the world, with a particular focus on the often-dangerous athletic feats they inspire. The heartbreaking retrospective tracks the champion from his early days in racing to his high-profile rivalry with Alain Prost to his tragic death.This film tells the story of John du Pont, the wealthy heir to the du Pont family fortune and USA wrestling benefactor who was eventually convicted of murder. Sports are rife with corruption and fascinating personal stories of triumph and downfall. Sunderland’s fall from the English Premier League to the Championship was a bleak moment in the club’s recent history, and this docuseries gives viewers an inside look at the dedication of Black Cats fans despite a truly heartbreaking season and the further tribulations that followed. Popular on Netflix
Political intrigue.
Then, coach Bill Courtney came along.
This Oscar-winning documentary dives into the world of doping in competitive cycling. The first two seasons chronicled East Mississippi Community College and coach Buddy Stephens as his team — many of which lost their spot at major college football programs for rules violations or arrests — try to win a collegiate title and rehabilitate their football careers.
Check out 15 of Insider's favorites below.
The Calcio Storico episode which leads off the series is truly insane, but shows just how region-specific sports have made a huge impact on places you can’t truly understand without experiencing the ways they play the game.
The show’s third season introduced viewers to Independence Community College in Indiana, a departure from the first two seasons yet following a similar story arc that made the show a streaming hit.
The documentary is a great look at the world of climbing, and is visually stunning. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. We liked Billy Corben’s Biogenesis scandal documentary A disturbing look at the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal in the world of gymnastics, Home Game is a series of obscure sports, some more obscure than others.
This Oscar-winning documentary follows the Tigers, from an economically disadvantaged area of Memphis, as they strive for glory both on and off the gridiron.Minor league baseball has provided the poetic backdrop for many a sports legend, and the tale of the Class-A Portland Mavericks of the 1970s is truly one for the ages. This docuseries aims to fix that while showing off some of the stars of lesser-known sports like freediving, roller derby and Kok Boru.
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Chronicling … This docuseries follows those athletes you may or may not remember from sports history and how some of them have turned devastating loss into the ultimate personal victory.Bryan Fogel’s stunning documentary about Russia’s Olympic doping program won best documentary feature at the 2018 Academy Awards—a deserving accolade for a film that not only lifted the veil on the Kremlin’s state-sponsored cheating, but plays out like a real-life political thriller.
Sports are a recreational hobby for some, but they also mirror the rest of the world’s political, societal, and personal problems. The saga of the scrappy Portland Mavericks is not the most well-executed film on the list, but it’s lovingly done and the archival footage carries the day here.
From baseball to dogsled racing, they're also about so much more.
It also does a great job of illustrating just how difficult his climb up This docuseries looks at the world of college football with a bit of a twist.