The Beautiful Game crossed over into the documentary world this week, with both Prime Video and Viaplay unveiling details of new football-centered titles.
Prime Video has greenlit Good Neighbors, a docuseries about the early-to-mid ’00s rivalry between the Mexican and US national men’s soccer teams. Set to debut this fall to coincide with the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the three-part series highlights the personal and professional stories of stars from each nation (including Landon Donovan and Rafa Márquez), and also examines the passionate battle for on-field talent and fan support that saw players for both countries becoming targets of recruiting battles.
“With anticipation building for the World Cup, we’re thrilled to bring audiences this incredible docuseries about the electric rivalry between these cross-border national teams,” said Prime Video Original Sports Content head Matt Newman in a news release. “Good Neighbors is the first in an exciting new slate of original sports programming Prime Video Sports will be rolling out over the next several years.”
Good Neighbors is a coproduction of Prime Video Sports and Skydance Sports, with Meadowlark Media and Ocellated Media producing. The series is executive produced by Skydance’s David Ellison, Jesse Sisgold and Jon Weinbach, as well as Meadowlark’s John Skipper and Deirdre Fenton and Ocellated Media’s Dante Moller. Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Gabriel Serra directed the series.
“We are happy to collaborate with Prime Video on this story that covers both sides of the border,” said Moller. “Good Neighbors is a story that needs to be told in a balanced and profound way. The US-Mexico fútbol rivalry is complex and controversial, but also displays a beautiful side of the greatest sport in the world.”
Viaplay also brought some doc news for soccer fans this week, with the announcement on Friday (August 12) that it had signed an exclusive long-term, multi-market partnership with Manchester City striker Erling Haaland (pictured).
In addition to acting as a brand ambassador in nine European countries in which Viaplay has rights to Premier League football, Haaland will also lead an exclusive documentary, Haaland – The Big Decisionwhich follows the 22-year-old Norwegian star through spring 2022, when he was feverishly courted by every major European team before he ultimately opted to sign a €60 million deal with Manchester City.
The Haaland partnership mirrors the one that Viaplay struck earlier this year with Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, who serves as a Viaplay ambassador in markets where the group holds rights to Formula 1 in addition to fronting the documentary Verstappen – Lion Unleashedwhich premiered on March 1.
“A Nordic phenomenon stepping onto the global stage — Erling and Viaplay complement each other perfectly,” Viaplay Group president and CEO Anders Jensen said in a news release. “As our partnerships with Formula 1’s Max Verstappen and now the Premier League’s latest superstar make clear, Viaplay not only shows sports’ biggest names in action every week, but brings fans closer to them than anyone else.”
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