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beautiful game is a fictional film about a very real Homeless World Cup tournament that has been drawing hundreds of people to a soccer tournament for 20 years. The film, starring Bill Nighy as a grieving widow who turns to coaching as a way to find meaning in life, will be released on March 29 and will raise awareness of the real tournament and provide viewing opportunities for the homeless and those in recovery. The aim is to change people’s perceptions.
In the film, Mal (Nighy) is a longtime coach of homeless British soccer players. The players he coaches see the Homeless World Cup tournament as a step towards redemption. The people taking part in the tournament are homeless, in recovery or asylum seekers. For example, an English player named Nathan (Callum Scott Howells) is a heroin addict whose mother tells him not to talk to him anymore. Another, Cal (Kit Young), left his child home alone for 48 hours while he went on a bender. During the tournament, Jason (Shea Cole) from the England team has a crush on Rosita (Christina Lodolo), an American female player, and the two go on a running date to get in shape for the match. A wonderful encounter awaits. .
The filmmakers also cast real homeless World Cup graduates to play on the U.S. team. Among them is Lisa Wrightsman, who coached the U.S. team at the first U.S. Homeless World Cup in Sacramento in 2023 and competed at the 2010 Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro. Wearing her No. 3 jersey, she was one of the extras at the game. The American team scored a goal late in the third-place match against the British team.
Wrightsman said he most sympathized with Vinny (Michael Ward), the English player whose team Coach Mull scouts at the beginning of the film. He is showing off his soccer skills to a group of youth soccer players. Just as Vinny once had a promising professional football career that failed, Wrightsman also played football at Sacramento State University. When she lost her chance to play professionally, she didn’t see a future. She became addicted to her drugs and alcohol, hit rock bottom and went to prison. While in a sober living facility, she met her case manager and a group practicing for the Street Soccer USA tournament, sponsored by one of the social service organizations that introduces players to the Homeless World Cup. She starred at the Homeless World Cup in Rio and eventually made a career out of teaching soccer to at-risk communities. Currently, she helps run Soccer USA’s Sacramento chapter, which introduces soccer to low-income youth.
Wrightsman wants viewers to see the personal changes that can occur when vulnerable people are given the right resources. She talks about what it was like to be a Homeless World Cup player and how it gave her a new outlook on life: I think the future is exciting. You don’t want to die anymore. The Homeless World Cup gave me a vision for life. [that] I’m really looking forward to it. And if this is the result of me being sober and doing good things, then I’m going to do more of those things. ”
The athletes that Wrightsman sponsored for recovery also beautiful game: Angela Droz, who wears the number 4 jersey in the film, can be seen playing soccer with Team USA players and enthusiastically cheering on the sidelines. Ms. Drose was recovering from her drug addiction when she met Wrightsman at a sober living facility, and Wrightsman tapped her to play. Droz never played soccer outside of elementary school, which she says is why she hasn’t played it again in 12 years. After competing in her 2014 Homeless She World Cup in Santiago, Chile, she currently works as a personal trainer in Sacramento.
Overall, she hopes the Netflix film will inspire people to be more kind to the homeless and those in recovery from addiction. “You will never know the magic that lies within a person sleeping on the streets. You will never know the beauty and potential that person has. We are not in our situation. “That’s not the worst thing,” she says.
The next Homeless World Cup will be held in Seoul, South Korea from September 21 to 28, with teams from 49 member countries participating.
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