Watch "Soka Afrika," a powerful doc about player trafficking from Africa to Europe

It looks like live soccer is back with the Bundesliga starting up this weekend. It may look different -- no fans, etc. -- but at least it's live soccer. Woohoo!

Meanwhile, the soccer film world keeps turning. Netflix announced that they are developing a film about the 1999 World Cup-winning U.S. women's national team. This 2018 short doc Keane and Vieira: Best of Enemies hit our radar. And this week's #SoccerFilmFriday is the award-winning documentary Soka Afrika.

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For most young soccer players in Africa, signing with a club in Europe is not just a dream; it's the only dream.

It is a hard dream to realize, with countless pitfalls, from unscrupulous agents to injuries, broken promises to family shame.

Soka Afrika, which won the Golden Whistle Award at the 2011 Kicking + Screening Soccer Film Festival, explores the good, the bad, and the ugly of player trafficking from Africa to Europe, as seen through the journeys of two young players, Kermit Erasmus from South Africa and Ndomo Sabo from Cameroon.

Netflix developing film about the 1999 US women’s national soccer team that won the World Cup

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OK. We’re excited. Definitely excited. In fact, we’re excited enough to rip off our shirts, bare our sports bras, and drop to our knees.

In other words, Brandi Chastain excited.

Why? Because Netflix announced this week that they are developing a film about the legendary U.S. women’s national team that won the World Cup. The “99ers,” as the team has become known, included stars Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, Michelle Akers, and current U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone, along with Chastain. Together, they captured the hearts and minds of America — and the world — with their thrilling style of play, their dedication to teamwork, and their sense of sportsmanship.

It all climaxed with their victory over China in the final, which was decided by a shootout punctuated by Chastain’s winning penalty kick and famous celebration.

The event accelerated the growth of women’s soccer and sparked vital conversations about the importance of women’s sports.

And now it’s getting the film it deserves. (We hope.)

The film will be based on Jere Longman’s book The Girls of Summer: The US Women’s Soccer Team and How It Changed The World, which we highly recommend.

This week's #SoccerFilmFriday movie is "Celtic Soul," starring Jay Baruchel + Eoin O'Callaghan

Well, we're still here. Sheltering at home, staying socially distant, and wearing masks, yes, but still keeping our spirits up. At the very least, we have great soccer films to keep us company.

For this week's #SoccerFilmFriday, we're featuring the hilarious and touching travel story, Celtic Soul, starring Jay Baruchel.

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A celebrated actor and comedian, Baruchel has an obsession with a sport and a team — far from home, in another continent: he is a massive fan of Glasgow’s Celtic Football Club. And like millions of fans around the world, Jay defies crazy distances and time differences to get his fix of European football.

How did Jay’s own obsession begin — and what is it about football that inspires such fanaticism in every far-flung corner of our globe?

Celtic Soul follows Jay on an epic road trip with his new friend, well-known Irish soccer journalist Eoin O’Callaghan, to find out.

This is a story that spans 200 years of colorful history and that will take the duo eastward from Montreal to Westport, Ireland — from where Jay’s ancestors set sail for Canada, like so many others — and finally Glasgow, where Jay will fulfill a lifelong dream: to watch a match at Celtic Park, one of the wildest and most hallowed grounds in world football.

Every Friday, we're watching soccer films. You should too!

These are strange times. Our lives have been thrown into a chaotic limbo punctuated by lockdowns, social distancing, and surgical masks. At the same time, it’s all taken on a very strong sense of mind-numbing repetition, like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.”

At K+S, we’re all trying to navigate this time as best we can. We’re all at home balancing work, children, and our sanity.

But we’ve still got soccer on the brain. So even if we’ve had to postpone K+S New York 2020 and there is no live soccer on TV, we can still do something to support the game. And, more importantly for us, to support independent soccer filmmakers:

We can watch their films.

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That’s why we’ve launched the new #SoccerFilmFriday initiative. It's simple enough. Every Friday, we'll spotlight a film on our website, in our newsletter, and on our social media channels, and encourage you all to watch it.

#SoccerFilmFriday Schedule

Please join us in supporting these great films. And we’ll schedule more in the coming weeks.

K+S New York 2020 Postponed

As you know, K+S New York — our flagship festival — usually takes place in early June. This year, we have been planning to organize our 12th annual festival in the Big Apple, and we already have several great films tabbed for screenings. Plus, we have been excited for almost a year about the prospects of celebrating the “12th man (or woman)” — the fan — as the overarching theme of the fest.

Alas, it is not to be.

Unfortunately, we will have to postpone this year's NY festival. We don't know, at this point, when it will take place, but we'll let you know once we have a firm date.

Thank you for sticking with us. This is a disappointing turn of events, but it is what it is. We’ll see you on the other side.

In the meantime, we remain open for submissions. SUBMIT YOUR FILM HERE

Help a Few Soccer Orgs in Need
One of the tenets of K+S is to help the soccer nonprofit community. That's why we choose a charitable partner for the festival each year. During this pandemic, these organizations need help from all of us more than ever. Here are a few we are supporting and hope you will too: 

Stay safe, everyone!