If watching Beckham on Netflix has made you hungry for more close-up sports documentaries, then don't worry – you're spoilt for choice. The best streaming service has been building a great selection of docs covering all kinds of sports and some of the best ones are must-watch shows even if you're not a huge sports fan.
If you're looking for more of the best Netflix series, then check out our guide to find more great must-watches. Otherwise, here are five top sports docuseries streaming on Netflix to get you started.
Quarterback
Is being a quarterback the toughest job in football? This eight-parter certainly makes it seem that way. It follows three professional quarterbacks – Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and Atlanta Falcons’ Marcus Mariota – through the 2022 season, experiencing the highest highs and lowest lows. It's currently sitting with a very impressive 89% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Break Point
This tennis documentary comes from the same team as the superb F1: Drive To Survive, and while there's a lot less petrol there's no shortage of on-screen action – and off-court things are just as intense as they are around any race. The show follows the fortunes of five top-tier tennis players as they travel for all four Grand Slams plus the WTA and ATP tours too.
Untold
Why stick to just one sport when you can tell amazing stories from all kinds of sports instead? That's the thinking behind this excellent, involving and sometimes shocking series. Now in its third season, Untold is even wilder than before. Season three pulls back the curtain on some of sports’ most infamous events, including doping scandals, boxing’s most hated heel and a football star under scrutiny.
Formula 1: Drive To Survive
Fast cars always make for great TV, but before this show began streaming F1 was barely on many US sports fans' radar – and that meant they were missing out on one of the most demanding and intense sports in the world. Featuring unprecedented access to both Mercedes and Ferrari this superlative series, now in its fifth season, delivers high-octane thrills and tons of off-track drama too.
Cheer
Cheerleading is of course a highly visual sport, and that makes it a natural for TV. Following on from his (also excellent) Last Chance U documentary, Greg Whitely turns his attention to the world of competitive cheerleading and follows Texan team the Navarro College Bulldogs. Their experiences are as intense as you might imagine, but there was also a shocking real-life twist as the debut episodes started streaming. The show's breakout star Jerry Harris was arrested for very serious offences, and the second season of the show features frank discussions among his shocked team members and his traumatised victims too.
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