Street Football (also known as ''Foot 2 Rue'') is a French–Italian animated television series created by Marco Beretta and Serge Rosenzweig. It originally aired between December 31, 2005 and July 10, 2010 on

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

. The show follows a diverse group of five children who form a

street football Street football may refer to: * Street football (association football) * Street football (American) * Street Football (TV series) * ''Street Football'', an arcade video game published by Bally Sente See also *Medieval football Medieval foo ...

team and find camaraderie through the game. In July 2019, a fourth season was announced, developed by

Zodiak Kids Banijay Kids & Family (formerly known as Zodiak Kids, Zodiak Kids Studios and Zodiak Kids & Family) is a French television production company owned by Banijay Entertainment based in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The company was originally founded in Februa ...

and Monello Productions. It retained the original visual style and premiered in February 2022.

Synopsis

Abandoned by their parents, five diverse children come together through their shared love of street football, using the game to overcome loneliness and build community. Led by Tag, they dream of competing in the first-ever Street Football World Cup together.

Production and broadcast

In a 2023 podcast produced by '' 20 Minutes'', co-creator Giorgio Welter reflected on the intent behind ''Foot 2 Rue'', describing it as one of the first inclusive animated series, meant to represent the lives of children from working-class backgrounds who play football in the streets. The concept for the series was inspired by the Italian novel ' by

Stefano Benni Stefano Benni (born 12 August 1947) is an Italian satirical writer, poet and journalist. His books have been translated into around 20 foreign languages and scored notable commercial success. 2.5 million copies of his books have been sold in I ...

, which follows a group of children escaping an orphanage to join a rebellious street football tournament. The story was adapted into the animated series, which aired in Italy under the title ''La Compagnia dei Celestini'' on Rai 2 beginning on November 24, 2005. The Italian version consisted of 26 episodes, each 26 minutes long, and was broadcast daily as part of the children's program ''Random''. It was co-produced by De Mas & Partners, Télé Images,

Rai Fiction Rai Fiction is an Italian production company founded in 1997. Owned and operated by ''Radiotelevisione Italiana'' ( RAI), the national broadcasting company of Italy, the company produces content for Rai's channels, producing animations, sitcoms, ...

, and France 3, with animation completed in Milan and Paris. Under the title ''Foot 2 Rue'' in France and ''Street Football'' in English-speaking regions, the show gained international distribution. The fourth season revival, ''Foot 2 Rue – Le Retour'', was broadcast again on

France Télévisions France Télévisions (; stylized since 2018 as ) is the French national public television broadcaster. It is a state-owned company formed from the integration of the public television channels France 2 (formerly Antenne 2) and France 3 (form ...

. It was co-produced by Zodiak Kids and Monello Productions and scheduled for release at the end of 2021.

Video games

An official video game, ''Street Football'', was released for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

in 2008. It was covered by gaming outlets such as ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...

'', which noted the game's appeal to fans of the show and its pick-up-and-play accessibility. Additionally, an online

browser-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...

football game tied to the series was made available in 2010 and noted for its interactive appeal for children.

Reception

A 2006 article in ''

Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...

'' described the series as ''la nouvelle série culte de milliers d'enfants'' ("the cult series for thousands of children") and ''un phénomène de mode dans les cours de récré'' ("a phenomenon in schoolyards"), indicating its strong resonance with young audiences at the time.

References

{{reflist French children's animated television series Italian animated television series 2005 French television series debuts Association football television series Animated television series about children