History of Soccer-The Beautiful Game

Rating:
Summary: SUPERB!!!
Review: A lavish production by people who clearly love Soccer, this is probably the best sport documentary series ever produced and worth every cent.
The DVD box set contains a 13-episode documentary series exploring various aspects of Soccer's development and cultural significance as well as its greatest moments, and a whole slew of extras featuring *hours* of match highlights, extended interviews, more featurettes, biographies and even some easter eggs, little silent documentary films showing various regions' passion for the game. The production values are absolutely fantastic, equaling any of the Ken Burns documentary series. The range of interviews is staggering - lengthy and utterly engrossing chats with the likes of di Stefano, Maradona, Pele, Menotti, Sandro Mazzola and Jurgen Klinsmann to name just a few.
Absorbing, fascinating, well made and well worth it. Five out of five.

Rating:
Summary: All I can say is.......wow.
Review: Finally I found what I have been looking for: a high quality DVD set chronicling the long and expansive history of The Beautiful Game. I didn't know what to expect once I received my package in the mail. Was this to be another low budget, non-detailed account of an otherwise fascinating topic? After watching the first DVD, I realized that this was not to be the case. The production value is top notch and covers nearly every aspect and era of the game. From it's ancient origins, to it's modern day superstars, the set uses game footage, interviews, and fantastic narration by Terrance Stamp to guide us through the evolution of soccer. If you've been looking for an all inclusive set on the subject, look no further. The History of Soccer does exactly what it implies....uses 7 DVDs and 14 hours to hold you captive while you explore the games history from every angle and perspective. It is breathtaking, educational, and has exceeded even my lofty expectations for a set like this. The World Cups, Europe, South America, and even the MLS are all covered. If you love the game, buy it. If you want to learn more about the game, buy it. This comes with my highest recommendation, and you will soon discover why.

Rating:
Summary: A Must for Any Football (Soccer) Fan
Review: History of Soccer-The Beautiful Game is an excellent documentary series that covers the sport from a comprehensive and global perspective. Being an avid and knowledgeable soccer fan myself, I learned triple of what I had previously known of soccer and recommend this set to any soccer fan. The picture and the audio are fine and there many links on the DVDs that provide more information about the material covered. The narraration is great and this set also has an enormous amount of interviews. Everyone from Pele, Maradona, Zidane, and Platini are interviewed. The only problem you may have is that it may be too expensive. In my opinion, it is well worth it!

Rating:
Summary: The BESTsports documentary I've ever seen!
Review: I saw this when it aired in Canada last year. I cannot recommend it enough.
The footage is sensational, the interviews fascinating and the scope and research of this documentary was beyond my wildest dreams.
I am a long time Soccer and sports fan and anyone that is interested in either needs to see this!
A "Must See" event for all sports fans!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: It is very good and gives you a good history of the sport. Soccer is the best sport in the world. Believe it or not. Ronaldo is the best soccer player alive and que Viva Las CHIVAS.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: It is very good and gives you a good history of the sport. Soccer is the best sport in the world. Believe it or not. Ronaldo is the best soccer player alive and que Viva Las CHIVAS.

Rating:
Summary: Lopsided
Review: Less a history of soccer than the title would suggest, this documentary on DVD is more a chronologically-minded discussion of football topics and polemics rather than pure history, and one that manages to say very little over the course of seven discs. Jarringly repetitive, it will, for instance mention a topic or event on several episodes, each time going a different level of depth into the topic, leading to a feeling of deja-vu for the viewer. I kept wishing this were done by Ken Burns. Then we'd get a feel for the personalities of the sport, something which this cold, distant HOS series fails to do, as well as good highlights, another thing HOS gives in surprisingly little amounts.
Along with an annoyingly Anglo-centric view of the game (Britain seems to be brought up one way or another in every episode, even for the most tangential of references), there is also a strange preoccupation with Indian football. India gets two whole segments in this series, over twenty minutes of airtime for a nation that isn't anywhere close to challenging anyone for anything in world football.
The extras amount to nothing but unnarrated, oftentimes confusing footage collected under a specific heading, but otherwise viewable elsewhere in the series.
Also, if a team didn't reach a major final, they aren't talked about. There is no mention of the Bulgarians at USA 94.
No mention of Steaua Bucharest's unlikely penalty shootout win over Barcelona in 86. Many other quality events like this are missing. Instead the series focuses on topics that are often boring, such as devoting an entire hour to the bureaucratic history of FIFA. Yawn.
Overall, somewhat of a disappointment. Not worth the price.

Rating:
Summary: If Ken Burns Did a Soccer Documentary, This Would Be It!
Review: This 6 DVD box set is titled, "History of Soccer: The Beautiful Game" on the outer package, but in fact, the documentary is actually called "History of FOOTBALL," so I will be using the word "football" to describe this great game, as it should be called.

At any rate, this is a very meticulous package. It contains the first ever, motion picture of football. Film footage of the 1901 FA Cup Final between Spurs and Sheffield United. Every World Cup final goal ever scored. And these are just the EXTRAS.

The real show is the documentary, narrated wonderfully by Terence Stamp. It starts from the beginning, where a multitude of cultures and nations began to kick a ball around, and it moves through every significant event that has shaped the football world since.

There is the Soccer War, where an actual war was started as a result of a football match.

There is the Moscow Dynamo team, captured in Nazi-occupied Russia, whose exploits against Nazis in a concentration camp were the stuff of communist legend, but are revealed to have been less than legendary now that the truth can be told.

There are the giants of club football, such as Manchester United and Liverpool on the England side, Juventus, Milan, and Inter on the Italian side, Real Madrid and Barcelona on the Spanish side, and many others. And there is even a look at the darker side of the game, such as hooliganism, various victims of air crashes, and the horrendous Hillsborough tragedy.

A spotlight is shone on every football-loving nation, from England, where the game's governing body was founded, Italy, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Germany, Russia, and many more.

There is tragedy and triumph, elation and dejection at every moment. Scores of interviews from actual participants of many matches lends a human side to every story, and if you love this game of football, you will eat this DVD series up like I did.

Buy this if you are curious. Buy this if you are a fan. But most of all, buy this because it is a quality piece of documentary work with so many extras that it will take you a long time to complete viewing the entire set. You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice
Review: This is indeed a very good piece of work, worth your money, although a bit pricey. But hey you got yourself something like 14hrs of documentary!
The only complaint I have is that this documentary was released one year before the 2002 world cup, and as such lacks the very latest developments of soccer history, especially because that world cup was the first one to be held outside Europe or the Americas. All in all a must for all of those soccer fans like myself.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT ALL IN ALL WRAP UP OF SOCCER
Review: This series is great but I didn't buy the dvd as I can just watch it on tape which I taped from foxtel.I have a question for all soccer(football) fans. Did soccer use to be alot more entertaining than it is now because of more defensive tatics in games these days?Please write back on Amazon so I can get your opinion, Thanks and se ya later