Captains of the World

British documentary television series

Captains of the World

Promotional poster showing Lionel Messi with the FIFA World Cup Trophy

Genre| Docudrama
Starring|

* Lionel Messi
* Kylian Mbappé
* Harry Kane
* Neymar
* Luka Modrić
* Thiago Silva
* Cristiano Ronaldo
* Gary Lineker

Country of origin| United Kingdom
Original language| English
No. of seasons| 1
No. of episodes| 6
Production
Executive producers|

* Ben Turner
* Gabe Turner

Producers|

* Christian Cerami
* Neil Housley

Production location| Qatar
Cinematography| Diego Rodriguez
Running time| 41–55 minutes
Production companies|

* Fulwell 73
* FIFA+

Original release
Network| Netflix
Release| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

Captains of the World is a television documentary series produced in a collaboration between Netflix, Fulwell 73 and FIFA+ to give a behind-the-scenes look at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[1][2] It is a follow-up to the 2022 co-produced series Captains, which documented players' efforts as their teams fought to qualify for the highly anticipated sporting event that took place in Qatar.

The documentary features behind-the-scenes footage and exclusive interviews with captains, prominent players, coaches and more – including Harry Kane, Gareth Bale, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappé and Simon Kjær; and revisits the tragedies and triumphs of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. From Messi's records with Argentina's big win to the biggest upsets of players like Ronaldo, Harry Kane and Thiago Silva, the story covers every angle of the journey.[3][4]

## Cast

[edit]

* Lionel Messi
* Kylian Mbappé
* Harry Kane
* Neymar
* Luka Modrić
* Thiago Silva
* Cristiano Ronaldo
* Kalidou Koulibaly
* Tyler Adams
* Gareth Bale
* Simon Kjær
* Romain Saïss
* Gary Lineker
* Lionel Scaloni
* Didier Deschamps
* Louis van Gaal

## Episodes

[edit]

No. in
series| Title| Featured matches| Original release date

|
|
|

1| "Great Expectations"| Brazil  2–0  Serbia
Argentina  1–2  Saudi Arabia
Portugal  3–2  Ghana
United States  1–1  Wales| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

Messi remembers Maradona, Thiago Silva recalls his battle with tuberculosis and Tyler Adams tries to change the world's view of football in America.

2| "Where Is Messi?"| Denmark  0–0  Tunisia
Qatar  1–3  Senegal
France  2–1  Denmark
Argentina  2–0  Mexico
Australia  1–0  Denmark
Ecuador  1–2  Senegal| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

Simon Kjær discusses Kylian Mbappé's star power and the politics of playing in Qatar. Kalidou Koulibaly reflects on African solidarity at the Cup.

3| "Against All Odds"| Japan  2–1  Spain
Costa Rica  2–4  Germany
Wales  0–2  Iran
Iran  0–1  United States
Argentina  2–1  Australia
Japan  1–1 (1–3 pen.)  Croatia
Morocco  0–0 (3–0 pen.)  Spain
Brazil  4–1  South Korea| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

The Round of 16 looms large. Australia aims to take out a god; Maya Yoshida tries to rewrite Japan's legacy in the knockout stage; Morocco makes history.

4| "The Harder They Fall"| Croatia  1–1 (4–2 pen.)  Brazil
Morocco  1–0  Portugal| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

Friction finds Ronaldo benched; Silva braces for backlash when Croatia eliminates Brazil; Morocco captain Romain Saïss discusses the energy in Qatar.

5| "Mind Games"| England  1–2  France
Netherlands  2–2 (3–4 pen.)  Argentina (Battle of Lusail)
Argentina  3–0  Croatia
France  2–0  Morocco| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

Club friends turn to foes as France faces England; Argentina reopens old wounds for the Netherlands; Luka Modrić's Cup career comes to a close.

6| "The Greatest"| Argentina  3–3 (4–2 pen.)  France (2022 FIFA World Cup final)| 30 December 2023 (2023-12-30)

With half of the world's population watching and his legacy on the line, Messi takes on Mbappé and France in a final, epic clash of football titans.

## Reception

[edit]

For the first season, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 98% approval rating .[5] In the first week of its release, it ranked as the 4th most watched TV show worldwide with 348M hours watched, and ended the first week in Netflix's Top 10 list in over 89 countries.[6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Netflix's 'Captains of the World' Trailer Relives Thrills and Heartbreak of 2022 World Cup". The Hollywood Reporter. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
2. ^ "'Captains Of The World' Docuseries Releases Official Trailer For Behind-The-Scenes Look At Quest For Football Supremacy". Deadline. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
3. ^ "Netflix's 'Captains Of The World' Docuseries Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of The 2022 FIFA World Cup". Yahoo! News. 26 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
4. ^ "Captains of the World: How to watch documentary following Lionel Messi, Harry Kane & more at the 2022 World Cup". 90min.com. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
5. ^ "Captains of the World: Season 1". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
6. ^ "Captains of the World". FlixPatrol.com. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* Captains of the World on Netflix
* Captains of the World at IMDb

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