20 best movies like Mike Bassett: England Manager (2001)

A romantic comedy about a man, a woman and a football team. Based on Nick Hornby's best selling autobiographical novel, Fever Pitch. English teacher Paul Ashworth believes his long standing obsession with Arsenal serves him well. But then he meets Sarah. Their relationship develops in tandem with Arsenal's roller coaster fortunes in the football league, both leading to a nail biting climax.

Blackball follows the fortunes of Cliff Starkey, a working-class fine of lawn bowls with an exceptional talent. Wanting to take on the Aussies he manages to become regional champion, only to get banned. Sports agent Rich Schwartz picks him up and makes him so popular the Bowls Committee deem to lift the ban. Now the question is whether he can regain his form and his friends to beat the Aussies.

A man who is suffering a mid-life crisis finds new meaning in his life as part of an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team.

Jimmy Grimble is a shy Manchester school boy. At school he is constantly being bullied by the other kids, and at home he has to face his mother's new boyfriend. However, through football, and some special boots, he manages to gain the confidence to succeed and leads his school football team towards the final of the local schools cup.

A pair of aging boxing rivals are coaxed out of retirement to fight one final bout -- 30 years after their last match.

Two brothers living a hard life of manual labor in rural Mexico have a simple dream: saving enough money to build their mother her dream house. But fate has other plans. A friendly game of soccer leads to first Rudo, then to Cursi being taken on by the nation’s top talent scout. Suddenly, they find themselves living the high life of star athletes: fame, fortune, fast cars and beautiful women.

The true story of Jasmine Plummer who, at the age of eleven, became the first female to play in Pop Warner football tournament in its 56-year history.

The 1992 Danish football team competes for the European Championship.

The film centers on a fight promoter (Mark Feuerstein) deeply in debt to his crooked rival. Desperate for a new fighter that will help him win back everything he owes, the promoter catches a break when a 450-pound church handyman (Paul "Big Show" Wight) who has spent his entire life in an orphanage agrees to wrestle on behalf of his fellow orphans.

Mark is an arm wrestler and dreams of becoming a champion. Jin-ki is a promoter and he dreams of turning his life around by using Mark. But then Marks sister Soo-jin appears and changes the live of everyone.

Geneva, Switzerland 1935. The first European Basketball Championship is about to take place. Basketball is still an unknown sport in Europe, and the national teams are meeting for the first time. Each wants the honour of being the first champion. Meanwhile in Latvia, coach Baumanis is convinced that he can assemble a team and take it to Geneva. He quickly learns however, that triumph and defeat are also part of the game. Coach Baumanis faces many difficulties, as well as unexpected help from those closest to him.

A man trying to put his life back on track gets some advice from an unexpected benefactor (the ex football player Eric Cantona) in this comedy-drama from acclaimed British director Ken Loach.

Four Olympic gold medals, seven World Championship titles, four World Cup tour championships and forty six World Cup circuit victories.Once his career as a professional athlete ended, however, the other side of his personality emerged into public view in all of its vulgarity. An alcohol dependency, several marriages accompanied by numerous marital problems, petty crime, uncontrolled acts of violence, greedy hangers-on… Wherever he roams, drama and catastrophe dog his footsteps. And everything is exposed in the headlines the next day…

Aging baseball star who goes by the nickname, Mr. 3000, finds out many years after retirement that he didn't quite reach 3,000 hits. Now at age 47 he's back to try and reach that goal.

A woman moves into a retirement community and starts a cheerleading squad with her fellow residents.

The eleven year old cycling talent Freddy is the son of a butcher in an idyllic village in no man's land. His isolated life is turned upside down completely in 1975 when the first supermarket in the village opens its doors. To mark the opening the supermarket organizes a cycling race and the winner of that match will meet Eddy Merckx. Freddy's father is a fervent opponent of the supermarket and the competition, but Freddy subscribes behind his back. By participating in the race a new world opens, not only for Freddy, but also for all those around him. Written by Anonymous (IMDB.com)

Born into a tight-knit wrestling family, Paige and her brother Zak are ecstatic when they get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out for the WWE. But when only Paige earns a spot in the competitive training program, she must leave her loved ones behind and face this new cutthroat world alone. Paige's journey pushes her to dig deep and ultimately prove to the world that what makes her different is the very thing that can make her a star.

With the help of her coach, her parents, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.

.The historic 1973 tennis match between middle-aged champion Bobby Riggs and young feminist Billie Jean King.

Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.

Ramlal Sharma lives a poor life-style with two sons Ratanlal Sharma and Sanjaylal Sharma. Both sons attend Model School for the poorer folks. Rantanlal excels at everything he does including his studies and outdoor activities while Sanjaylal is a no good slacker who loves to enjoy himself with his friends and have everything done without any hard work. Both sons run a small café providing eatable

After being expelled for a flagrant foul during a match in Primera C (the fourth division in Argentinian football), Patón Bonasiolle, the captain and midfielder from Talleres de Escalada, realizes his career as a footballer has come to an end. At the age of 35, this means the end of a world he has known since he was a child. Together with Ale - his wife - he looks for a fresh new start.

Katelin Kingsford, an Olympic hopeful figure skater wants to train with a Russian figure skating coach. In order to go to go to the school that Natasha is at, Katelin gets a scholarship playing on the girls hockey team.

In 2004, Hope Ann Greggory became an American hero after winning the bronze medal for the women's gymnastics team. Today, she's still living in her small hometown, washed-up and embittered. Stuck in the past, Hope must reassess her life when a promising young gymnast threatens her local celebrity status.

A basketball star is booted out of the NBA when his on-court antics go too far, so he poses as a woman and joins the WUBA.

Based on a true story in 1985. Derek is a dreamer and a loser. No matter how hard he tries he fails at everything he attempts. Determined to show the world he can succeed at something he forms an American Football team in a country dominated by Soccer, Rugby, Cricket and Fish & Chips. His desire to succeed consumes his life and he is blind to see that his success will lead to him losing everything.

It's recruiting time and despite being short and scrawny, Johnny Walker is America's hottest young football prospect. His dilemma: should he take one of the many offers from college talent scouts or should he attend the local state college with his girlfriend and give up his football career?

A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.

Two brothers fight to escape a violent and poor neighborhood in Caracas by playing soccer. Daniel wishes to play professionally while Julio supports the family with dirty money. The opportunity of a lifetime comes when a talent scout invites them to the Caracas Football Club. The boys' mother dies in a shootout forcing each brother to decide what it is more important to them:family, revenge, or achieving their dreams.

A semi-fictional account of life as a professional Football (American-style) player. Loosely based on the Dallas Cowboys team of the early 1970s.

The inspiring true story of Dream Alliance, an unlikely race horse bred by small town bartender, Jan Vokes. With very little money and no experience, Jan convinces her neighbors to chip in their meager earnings to help raise Dream and compete with the racing elites. Their investment pays off as Dream rises through the ranks and becomes a beacon of hope in their struggling community.

40-year-old Bertrand has been suffering from depression for the last two years and is barely able to keep his head above water. Despite the medication he gulps down all day, every day, and his wife's encouragement, he is unable to find any meaning in his life. Curiously, he will end up finding this sense of purpose at the swimming pool, by joining an all-male synchronised swimming team.

When down-on-his-luck part-time high school wrestling coach Mike agrees to become legal guardian to an elderly man, his ward's troubled grandson turns out to be a star grappler, sparking dreams of a big win -- until the boy's mother retrieves him.

Joe Mazzello, best known for his acting roles in Jurassic Park, HBO's The Pacific, The Social Network, etc, wrote and made his directorial debut with this story based on his brother's experience as a collegiate baseball star who was skipped over in the Major League Baseball draft. Story centers around an intramural baseball game with his misfit teammates that becomes incredibly important to him as he tries to come to grips with his dashed dream.

A two-bit promoter tries to take a women's wrestling team to the top.

Antoine and Kenny Tyler are NCAA college basketball players, and Antoine is the star. Suddenly Antoine dies of heart attack and Kenny has to fill his shoes as leader of team. Some time later, Antoine returns as a ghost and helps Kenny in game and in life, but Kenny changes in the process and doesn't quite like it.

Story revolves around a young boxer, Izzy Daniels, who trains to follow in his father's footsteps by winning the Golden Glove. When his friend, Mary, however, asks him to substitute for a team member in a Double Dutch tournament, the young man discovers a hidden passion for jump roping

Based on a true story, a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series.

Shattered illusions are hard to repair -- especially for a good-hearted zebra named Stripes who's spent his life on a Kentucky farm amidst the sorely mistaken notion that he's a debonair thoroughbred. Once he faces the fact that his stark stripes mark him as different, he decides he'll race anyway. And with help from the young girl who raised him, he just might end up in the winner's circle.

The lives of Eric, an ex hockey player, and his partner Sam, are thrown into turmoil when they are forced to take in Scot, a flamboyant 11-year-old.

When milkman Jimmy Connelly accidentally puts Britain's contender for the World title out of action, he is propelled from amateur boxer to the world stage and announced as the replacement contender for the championship fight.

In the third installment of the football drama trilogy Goal!, Kuno Becker returns as Mexican footballer Santiago Muñez, who, along with his best friends and England national team players Charlie Braithwaite (Leo Gregory) and Liam Adams (JJ Feild), are selected for their respective national teams at the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany.

A pro tennis player has lost his ambition and has fallen in rank to 119. Fortunately for him, he meets a young player on the women's circuit who helps him recapture his focus for Wimbledon.

In Mystery, Alaska, life revolves around the legendary Saturday hockey game at the local pond. But everything changes when the hometown team unexpectedly gets booked in an exhibition match against the New York Rangers. When quirky small-towners, slick promoters and millionaire athletes come together.

‘The Marathon’ is a feature film which contains humour in combination with impressive drama. The garage of four jass playing, smoking and beer drinking mechanics is threatened to be closed. The ‘genius’ idea to run the marathon of Rotterdam while being sponsored seems to be the only solution. The condition of the sponsor deal; making it to the finish line. However, training is difficult for the hedonists and it changes relationships, and even their future. Are all the efforts worth the fight when their seems to be more to it then just making it to the finish line…?

Competitive ice skater Tonya Harding rises amongst the ranks at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but her future in the sport is thrown into doubt when her ex-husband intervenes.

In Northern England in the early 1960s, Frank Machin is mean, tough and ambitious enough to become an immediate star in the rugby league team run by local employer Weaver.

A hockey enthusiast since 12 years of age, Toronto-based Rajvinder Singh, even went to the extent of trimming his hair, discarding his Pagri/turban, did not complete his education, incurred the wrath of his father, Darvesh, who wanted him to be involved in the family business as well as confirm and respect Sikh religion principles and values. Hoping to play professional hockey, Rajvinder, along with other fellow Sikh players, instead finds himself treated as the object of ridicule, referred to as a 'joker', by mainstream Caucasian players. Even his friends tease him and ask him to take up 'Guli Danda' and Kabaddi', while his father makes him work for Uncle Sammy as a truck driver. He is attracted to stunning law student Melissa Winters while her brother, Dan, offers to coach Rajvinder and his team. Unable to get themselves included in any team, they form their own...

In the 70s, there was Merckx and there were the others. Ghislain Lambert was one of the others. This is his story, a quite simple one. The story of a modest Belgian bike racer. His greatest ambition in life? To become a champion. His greatest tragedy? Not having the legs his heart deserves.

The 1980s snooker rivalry between Alex “Hurricane” Higgins and Steve “The Nugget” Davis, two very different personalities who helped popularise the sport on TV.