Goal! The Dream Begins 2005

Goal! (also known as Goal! The Dream Begins) is a 2005 British sports drama film directed by Danny Cannon from a screenplay by Mike Jefferies, Adrian Butchart, Dick Clement, and Ian La Frenais. It is the first installment in the Goal! trilogy and stars Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Marcel Iureș, Stephen Dillane, and Anna Friel. In the film, Santiago Muñez (Becker), an amateur player, earns an unlikely chance to play professional football. Goal! was made with co-operation from FIFA, which enabled the inclusion of FIFPro likenesses of real teams and players. Adidas contributed a reported $50 million towards the film's budget and marketing campaign, marking the then-biggest deal between a corporate brand and a film production. Goal! was theatrically released in the United Kingdom by Buena Vista International on 1 October 2005. The film received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the sports sequences and Becker's performance but criticism for the screenplay, with many labelling it cliché. Goal! underperformed at the box office, grossing $27.6 million worldwide. The sequel, Goal II: Living the Dream, was released in the United Kingdom in February 2007.