The Corinthians: We Were the Champions

The incredible real-life story of the original rebel girls of football, Corinthians Ladies FC from Manchester, who defied the English Football Association’s 50-year ban on women playing to become global champions.

Told exclusively by ten surviving players, this is the first feature-length documentary film to reveal how a gang of working-class girls from Manchester took on the all-male establishment and won.

While women were banned from playing on any official football pitches in England from 1921 to 1971, the Corinthians found fame in top stadiums around the world. Beating Germany to an unofficial European Cup in 1957, and winning what the press dubbed an unofficial ‘World Cup for women’ in 1960, they were one of the most successful women’s teams the UK ever had. Yet, for decades, their world-beating triumphs were forgotten.

Now, the full raucous, rebellious story is revealed, entirely in the words of the women who kept the game alive.