10 Most Inspirational Sports Movies, Ranked

Few genres can replicate the inspirational feeling of a great sports movie, and the best sports movie can provide life lessons that extend way beyond the confines of any sport. Whether the characters are competing for a world championship or a local amateur tournament, sports movies come with inherent stakes that anyone can understand. The structure of sport can provide a great framework for powerful and emotive storytelling.

Many sports movies based on real life pack a bigger punch than anything fictional. It’s an old cliché for sports commentators to say that certain events are impossible to script, but it’s true in many ways. The unpredictable nature of sport pushes ordinary people into extraordinary situations, and when someone is facing adversity, that’s often when they stand up and show everyone what they’re made of. The best sports movies aren’t just about who wins and loses, they’re also about teamwork, courage and determination.

10 Remember The Titans (2000)

Set in Virginia in the 1970s, Remember the Titans stars Denzel Washington as the first black coach of a high school football team who must corral his racially diverse team into a cohesive unit. Remember the Titans is based on a true story, and it shows the abolition of racial segregation in public schools was anything but a smooth transition. 17 years after Brown vs. the Board of Education, tensions still ran high in the city of Alexandria.

Remember the Titans is often listed among the best football movies. Washington’s performance is a key reason why, especially in his inspirational team speeches. His most memorable scene sees him delivering a speech when the team’s training camp takes a trip to Gettysburg which eventually helps them see the bigger picture. Washington has such an imposing, self-assured presence that his words are impossible to ignore.

9 Ford V Ferrari (2019)

Two men connect over their shared love of racing

Ford v Ferrari is about Ford’s attempts to build a car capable of winning the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans race over the highly-favored Ferrari team, but it’s really about the friendship between two men. Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles bond over their shared love of racing. They aren’t the type of men who could likely bond over much else, but their technical conversations about downforce and weight distribution are their equivalent of an emotional heart-to-heart.

Ford v Ferrari changes the real story of Shelby and Miles a little, but every change is designed to enhance the drama and add depth to the relationship to the two men. Thanks to two brilliant performances from Matt Damon and Christian Bale, Ford v Ferrari is as heartwarming as it is exciting. The big race is inspirational enough, but the heart of the movie lies in what happens next, showing that sport creates memories to last a lifetime, long after the celebrations are over.

8 Bend It Like Beckham (2002)

A soccer movie that examines the importance of women’s sport

Bend It Like Beckham is one of the best soccer movies ever, and it shows that more comedic sports movies can be just as inspirational. The story follows a British Indian teenager who wants to play soccer despite her parent’s objections. Jess must choose between bending to her parent’s expectations and following her true passion and chasing her dreams. Ultimately, her friendships are vital.

Bend It Like Beckham is about the important bonds that competitive sport can create. Soccer helps Jess’ parents understand her, and her love of the game is representative of her desire to seek her own path in life. While her game-winning free-kick and her scholarship to California are both triumphs, the real victory is that Jess finds a team who can support her in a way that her family can’t.

7 Breaking Away (1979)

Cycling helps a group of outsiders find a purpose

Breaking Away is a tender coming-of-age story about a group of friends who meet a dead-end after graduating from high school. Dave’s passion for competitive cycling, especially Italian racers, bleeds into his daily life. He distracts himself from his scant prospects by singing opera around the house and pushing his bike as fast as it can go on the highway. Cycling is Dave’s salvation in the uncertain period between adolescence and true adulthood.

Dave is happiest on his bike, but his hobby soon becomes more complicated, as he and his friends enter a race against local Indiana University students. All of a sudden, cycling is Dave’s route to teaching the snobby students not to discount him. The final lap of the cycling race plays out in a single, nail-biting shot. In this way, Breaking Away comes as close as any fictional movie ever has to recreating the feeling of live sport.

6 Miracle (2004)

One of America’s most unbelievable sporting triumphs is just as captivating as a movie

Miracle recreates one of the biggest upsets in the history of American sport. The “Miracle on Ice” saw the U.S. Olympic hockey team defeat the defending champions, the Soviet Union, in the gold medal match at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. The game was steeped in the discourse of the Cold War, and America’s victory became representative of much more than hockey.

Miracle stars Kurt Russell as the team’s head coach, Herb Brooks, who revolutionized the way that the U.S. team operated. Miracle faced the considerable challenge of bottling the intangible magic of the Miracle on Ice. Not only does it succeed in the hockey scenes, but it also builds on the modern legend with plenty of inspirational speeches and a deeper look at Brooks’ internal state.

5 Rudy (1993)

Rudy’s story applies to anyone with a dream

Rudy follows the formula of many similar underdog stories, but it manages to stand out from the crowd. Perhaps it’s the career-defining performance by Sean Astin, or perhaps it’s the fact that Rudy‘s football scenes actually resemble football, a metric by which many sports movies fall short. Rudy is based on a true story, and this makes its wide-eyed optimism even more special.

Although Rudy shows a deep appreciation for the traditions and the culture of college football, its story can be applied to all areas of life. Rudy’s story is a triumph of the human spirit, and this resonates with people who have never watched a game of football before. He isn’t the most skilled or naturally gifted athlete on the roster, but he has the most heart and the most determination, and this makes him easy to root for.

4 The Karate Kid (1984)

Mr. Miyagi is a wise and caring mentor

The Karate Kid is a classic story of a teenager learning about the world through sport, and he also learns a lot about himself in the process. Daniel LaRusso discovers that he can escape from the torment of being bullied and his difficult home life through karate, even if at first he is put off by the strange ways of Mr. Miyagi. He soon realizes that Mr. Miyagi is much wiser than he first thought.

Mr. Miyagi’s best quotes in The Karate Kid are some of the most inspirational life lessons in any sports movie. Almost everything he says can be taken as a valuable piece of wisdom, as he teaches Daniel about his philosophy of balance and courage. The remake with Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith didn’t reach the high standards of the original, but a new Karate Kid movie will bring the two stories together for the first time.

3 Invictus (2009)

The true story of how Nelson Mandela invested in the power of sport

Invictus tells the true story of the South African rugby team at the 1995 World Cup. Morgan Freeman delivers an outstanding performance as Nelson Mandela, with Matt Damon as South Africa’s rugby captain Francois Pienaar. Mandela faced the daunting task of trying to heal the racial divide in South Africa after he was elected as the country’s first black president, and he saw sport as a great way to unite the nation.

Invictus is an ambitious and uplifting movie. Two brilliant central performances help tell the story of a real-life sporting triumph that meant a lot more than a normal trophy. Even if some of the emotional beats have been done plenty of times before, few movies have the inherent power of Invictus, thanks to its remarkable true story and the ability of Freeman to convey the gravitas of Mandela.

2 Chariots Of Fire (1981)

A 100-year-old story that still raises spirits

Chariots of Fire follows two British runners as they train and compete in the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris. Although they start out as rivals, they soon form a strong bond over their shared passion for running and their incredible dedication. Harold Abrahams is Jewish, and he faces antisemitism at college and in athletics. He finds an unlikely ally in Eric Liddell, a Christian missionary who sees sport as an opportunity to glorify God.

Chariots of Fire highlights the way that sport can bring people together and overcome prejudice. United by a common goal and a mutual passion, Liddell and Abrahams become closer than they ever would have outside the sport. Chariots of Fire‘s most iconic scene is undoubtedly the training scene on the beach, as a group of runners race along the shoreline to Vangelis’ uplifting soundtrack.

1 Rocky (1976)

The original story of Rocky Balboa is beautifully structured

Although the Rocky franchise is full of inspirational scenes, nothing comes close to the impact of the original movie. Rocky Balboa starts out as an underdog fighting in small gyms in Philadelphia. He is treated as a mere sideshow in the story of Apollo Creed, but he still finds himself in with a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship. Rocky agrees to the fight, first for the money, but soon to prove a point to himself and to everyone else.

It’s unusual to have a sports movie where the hero doesn’t win in the end, but Rocky’s noble loss is just as good as defeating Apollo. He wins over the hearts of the crowd, and he can look forward to a future with Adrian too. The Rocky franchise has had its ups and downs, but every movie has inspirational moments that can apply to all aspects of life. Rocky Balboa’s best trait isn’t his skill or punching power, it’s his ability to keep going.