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Football

23rd Feb 2021

Netflix announce The Divine Ponytail, a Roberto Baggio biopic

Wayne Farry

Sport documentaries are all the rage right now

It feels like every single football team of note has had a documentary made about them in the last few years. It’s almost 10 years since the now infamous Being: Liverpool hit screens, and gave us a closer look than ever at the larger than life personality of Brendan Rodgers, as well as some behind the scenes insights from Anfield and Melwood.

Since then we’ve had Amazon Prime docs about Leeds United, Manchester City and Spurs, as well as Asif Kapadia’s stunning documentary about the late, great Diego Maradona.

Documentaries about footballers and teams work by the very nature of the fact that the art form reveals information which was often unknown by many people. People want to know about the lives of footballers and the inner workings of successful teams, and documentaries allow that.

A new announcement from Netflix Italy though suggests a new direction for sports production, after they revealed that a biopic about the life and career of Roberto Baggio is in the works.

Titled Il Divin Codio (The Divine Ponytail) the biopic will star Andrea Arcangeli (Trust) as the ponytailed legend.

According to an article in Esquire Italy, the dramatisation of Baggio’s life will look at key moments from his 22-year career, including that penalty kick in the 1994 World Cup final and his contentious move from Fiorentina to Juventus.

It will also take a closer look at the man himself, his relationship with his family, and his Buddhist beliefs.

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