As the FIFA World Cup approached, the Cannes Film Festival made sure to capitalise with two high-profile documentaries in its program.

While Cantona explores French former Manchester United striker Eric Cantona’s experience playing for Alex Ferguson, the best film – and one of the best sports movies ever – is The Match, which features Diego Maradona as we have never seen him before.

An Argentinian-Spanish film, The Match not only gives a bird’s eye view of the 1986 World Cup quarter final in Mexico between England and Argentina where Maradona shot the infamous Hand of God goal, but also contextualises the 1982 Falklands War as well as the history of soccer relating to both countries.

Based on Andres Brugo’s book, the film was co-directed by Juan Cabral, who was interested in “the epic-ness of the game and its characters”, and soccer fan Santiago Franco.

In the lead-up to the 1986 game, the immaculately researched film first examines the dramatic quarter-final between Argentina and England at the 1966 World Cup.

“There was an incident where Antonio Rattin, the Argentinian captain, grabbed the corner flag which had the Union Jack and it was a big offence at the time,” co-director Franco notes.

“Alf Ramsey, the coach for English National team, said that the Argentinians were animals and you shouldn’t exchange shirts with an animal. It was almost like a diplomatic conflict. Rattin later said that the historical context wasn’t as present as it was in ‘86 because that match was four years after the Falklands War. But there was a sporting rivalry that was born there.”

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The film includes footage of the games and interviews with the players of the 1986 match, most prominently the strikers – England’s Gary Lineker (now a famous soccer broadcaster) and Argentina’s Jorge Valdano (a former Real Madrid Coach and commentator for BeIN Sports), who provide the narration.

Midfielder John Barnes, who almost scored a goal for England, also has a lot to say, as do England’s goalkeeper Peter Shilton and Argentinian defender Julio Olarticoechea. Maradona, who passed away in 2020, is widely included in archival footage.

“There was an undeniable aura about him from the moment he set foot on the Azteca Arena,” Lineker says of Maradona. As for the Hand of God goal, he recalls: “It was like a lightning strike so sudden that many missed it entirely.”

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Not missed by Barnes, though, who was on the sidelines: “We saw it straight away; all the players saw it.”

Still, Tunisian referee Ali Ben Nasser wasn’t having any of it and granted the goal.

“I think if it was reversed, we’d still be chasing the referee today,” notes Argentinian centre back Oscar Ruggeri.

“When you play in the street like we played in Argentina the goals always counted as long as the others didn’t notice,” Maradona said a year after the game on television. “And that’s what I did there. I hit it. I hit it hard, really with my head. A little with my hand.”

Valdano explains that Maradona had attempted numerous handballs throughout his career.

“Some were discovered; others were successful. It should be noted that for us cleverness is a value and a value that we sometimes put above honesty,” says Valdano.

“It’s a beautiful match where there’s conflict,” director Cabral says. “There are rules which are slightly broken or bent but there’s genius there. Maradona’s second goal is incredible and there’s wizardry in the first one.”

The film’s producer Flora Fernandez Marenco adds that “when you grow up playing in the streets you’re aiming to win and that’s what’s most important, as Maradona explains”.

“I think everyone understands that (Hand of God goal) is cheating, but in a way what we are saying is that in the streets, because our living situation is so much harder and we are trying to survive, the mentality’s a different one,” says Marenco.

Above all, Cabral says the film is a romantic love letter to the countries that gave us football, starting with England as we see in the early scenes.

“We gave the world players, some of the best players of all time, from Maradona to Lionel Messi … and you see Lineker who’s accepting all this – the game is bringing the world together,” Cabral says.

“But in the 1986 match the players came on the field with invisible backpacks weighted with tonnes of concrete because of the history of the war. In the film they are saying it’s only football – but it’s not. That’s why it’s called The Match. It’s THE match. There is not going to be another match like that.”

In some ways the 1986 World Cup quarter final became a precursor to modern merchandising. At the end of the game when Maradona and British midfielder Steve Hodge exchanged shirts, Hodge ultimately came into a windfall with Maradona’s Number 10 one-of-a-kind shirt.

Hodge kept the shirt in his attic for 16 years, not realising its value. When Sotheby’s auctioned it online 36 years after the match and shortly after Maradona’s death, it fetched £7,142,500 (A$13.5 million). Hodge did not want to be interviewed for the film.

“I think he doesn’t want to talk about that,” says Marenco, “but we didn’t want to ask him about that. We wanted to ask him about something else, but he never replied. There were no hard feelings from us.”

Another highlight of the film is seeing a photo of Maradona bonding with rock group Queen, wearing a Union Jack t-shirt, no less. The British band had played two concerts in Argentina at the time, one of which was not recorded, so there is only a photo of Maradona with the band.

Four Queen tracks background the film, most pertinently their collaboration with David Bowie, Under Pressure, also the title of one of the film’s chapters. Did it cost them a lot of money to include the songs?

“Queen were very generous,” Marenco says.

As a side note, Eric Cantona acted in two dramatic French Cannes films – the short The Sentinel and the feature Marvellous Mornings, in which he performed a hilarious disco dance. It’s good to see that the footballing legend doesn’t take himself too seriously.

The Match screens at Sydney Film Festival from June 9 and will release nationally later this year. FIFA World Cup 2026 runs June 11 to July 19.

fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026

Helen Barlow is a Paris-based Australian freelance journalist and critic. In 2019 she received the La Plume d’Or for her services to French cinema. She is a voting member of the Lumiere Awards.