The Match That Not Every Club Wants to Play
The Match That Not Every Club Wants to Play is a 36-minute documentary, produced in the United States and directed by Felipe Bertazzo Tobar and Daniel Uribe Parra. Through an in-depth investigation conducted between Germany and Spain, the film examines the relationship between football, historical memory and collective identity, taking an approach that combines sport, history and politics.
Its central theme is football, observed not merely as a sporting competition but as a symbolic space in which tensions and silences in collective memory are reflected. The documentary specifically examines how some clubs address—or avoid confronting—their past in official museums and stadium tours.
The story's protagonists are not only the clubs concerned—Real Madrid and FC St. Pauli—but also a network of authoritative voices comprising historians, political scientists, sports journalists, museum directors and local supporters. The testimonies are the result of three years of production, including extensive periods of field research and in-depth interviews.
The documentary highlights two emblematic cases: on the one hand, Real Madrid, which avoids mentioning sensitive issues such as the club's role during the Spanish Civil War or Ortega Gutierrez, the only communist president in its history; on the other, FC St. Pauli, known for its progressive culture, which transparently addresses its past under the Nazi regime in response to appeals from its fan base.
The film's central message concerns the responsibility of memory and football's social role in contributing either to reconciliation or to historical erasure. Sport thus becomes a lens through which to observe wider dynamics of identity-building and unresolved political conflicts.
Produced on an independent budget, the film was completed on 1 November 2024. It is neither a debut work nor a student project. Filming took place in the United States, Germany and Spain. Information on an official premiere or distribution is not currently available.
Film Information
Title: The Match That Not Every Club Wants to Play
Original title: The Match That Not Every Club Wants to Play
Direction: Felipe Bertazzo Tobar, Daniel Uribe Parra
Production: [Not specified]
Country: United States
Language: English
Running time: 36 minutes
Genre: Documentary
Sport featured: Football
Main subject(s): Real Madrid, FC St. Pauli, historians, journalists, supporters
Completion date: 1 November 2024
Premiere: [Not specified]
Distributor: [Not specified]
Shooting format: 4K, 60 fps, 16:9, colour
Director's first film: No
Student project: No