Copa 71 (PG)
Directed by James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay
★★★★
IN 1971 Mexico hosted the first-ever Women’s World Cup, televised and witnessed by record crowds, but which has been buried for over 50 years and erased from history. This is why this is the greatest sporting story you have never heard of and a fitting one for International Women’s Day.
It is told by the pioneering women who took part in this historic football tournament which Mexico staged in defiance of Fifa. Teams flocked from around the globe to take part in a bursting-to-capacity Azteca Stadium.
Co-written and directed by James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay, with Serena and Venus Williams as executive producers, this is a remarkable and jaw-dropping documentary which features archive footage of the women’s matches not seen since 1971 and which makes for riveting viewing — and I am not a fan of football.