The Football Factory, the British drama hailed as “a modern classic” and starring Danny Dyer, has climbed the Netflix trending chart. Since being added to the streamer earlier this month, it is now the 8th most-watched on Netflix UK.
Released in 2004, the film stars Dyer as a Chelsea football hooligan named Tommy Johnson, who begins to question his violent, drug-fuelled lifestyle as the tension between two gangs escalates.
The synopsis reads: “A disillusioned Tommy Johnson lives for the weekend but soon begins to question his life choices after a series of incidents land him in serious trouble.”
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Loosely based on John King’s novel of the same name, the film stars Tamer Hassan, Frank Harper, Roland Manookian, Neil Maskell and Dudley Sutton alongside Dyer.
The Football Factory received a mixed response from critics and viewers alike and currently holds a user rating of 6.7/10 on IMDb and a 38% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
One user described the film as “a modern classic”, writing: “From the opening credits, The Football Factory hammers your senses and drags you in for the ride with its high tempo soundtrack interspersed with the various headlines of the scourge of football hooliganism, a style it will keep up throughout the rest of the film.”
“I would recommend this to anyone, not just football fans, but anyone who wishes to see a film about heterosexual male relationships, and the state of the British Male mindset in the year 2004,” penned another.
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Related: The best and most hilarious World Cup 2026 adverts
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup currently under way, The Football Factory is likely trending for that reason.
If it’s football films you’re after, then Digital Spy has you covered with our list of the 9 best football movies to watch on BBC, Channel 4, Netflix and more.
Alternatively, you can watch Mike Bassett: England Manager. The 2001 mockumentary, starring Ricky Tomlinson and Bradley Walsh, was recently added to Prime Video.
The Football Factory is streaming on Netflix.
Reporter, Digital Spy
Harriet is a freelance news writer specialising in TV and movies at Digital Spy.
A horror enthusiast, she joined Digital Spy after working on her own horror website, reviewing films and focusing largely on feminism in the genre.
In her spare time, Harriet paints and produces mixed-media art. She graduated from the University of Kingston with a BA in fine art, where she specialised in painting. She also has an MA in journalism from Birkbeck University.