Documentary Review: ‘Foosballers’

Review by James Lindorf

In nearly every part of the world outside the United States, the most popular sport is Soccer or Football. First patented in 1921, Table Football/Soccer, better known as foosball, became the way for fans to bring the game into bars, rec centers, and even their homes. The game traveled to America with the troops as they returned home from WWII. Foosball reached its peak in popularity in the late ’70s with tournaments offering $1,000,000 in cash and prizes but took a significant hit with the advent of arcade games. In 2016 six of the best foosball players were preparing for the Tornado Open Singles World Championship held in Lexington Kentucky. Their path to and preparation for this latest tournament is the subject of director Joe Heslinga’s latest documentary Foosballers, which opened in select theaters on February 11th and is currently available on VOD platforms.

If you are going to sit down to watch a documentary, it is a given that you have some level of interest in its subject matter. Foosball is a topic that nearly everyone has had some degree of exposure to, whether it’s with an old table in your basement, that one you played on from time to time at the bar out with friends, or even if it was just watching Joey and Chandler play on the show Friends. Now that interest in the topic is resolved, two elements are critical to a documentary’s quality, its “characters” and its presentation. It is not necessary to have them in equal quantities; one can make up for a weakness in the other, but commercial success is more likely to follow colorful characters than artistic presentation. 

Heslinga managed to excel on both accounts. The film has a simple structure of introducing the six competitors that we will be following along with sharing the history of foosball. The film’s final segment takes place at the World Championship and features a healthy dose of dramatic music and cinematography. The film opens with an interview with the mother of the worlds reigning number 1, Tony Spredeman, and it had a strong resemblance to the mockumentary I, Tonya. His mom even had a large parrot with her in every scene. Thankfully Foosballers soon settles down into a more traditional presentation with more controlled interviews.

The best decision the filmmakers made was selection of pro foosballers to highlight. It ranges from those who started in the 70s and 80s, those currently cementing their legacies, and offers a glimpse at the future. They all got their starts in different ways and differ in the amount of time they can dedicate to foosball nit the passion is shared and runs deep. Four of the six have day jobs while the other two are among a select group of people that can make a living on the foosball tour. One is the Hall of Famer Todd Loffredo, and the other is Tony Spredeman, they have the opportunity, will, and skill necessary to hit the road for weeks to months at a time on the foosball circuit. The others range from cops to the owner of a Cannabis Cup winning dispensary in Colorado, and the variety of backgrounds make for dynamic conversations that will keep viewers interested through the 96-minute runtime. It may not get the same level of exposer, but with its topic and quality, Foosballers would make a perfect double feature with the acclaimed 2007 documentary, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.