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The 14 best female-driven sports movies, from 'Million Dollar Baby' to 'A League of Their Own'
Feb 8, 2025
Count yourself lucky to play like a girl.
Though sports are stereotypically thought of as a male-dominated arena, women have been proving forever that they're just as skilled and exciting to watch, and Hollywood has championed this truth with empowering sports movies. Whether it's playing soccer in Bend It Like Beckham (2002) or completing an ocean swim in Nyad (2023), these athletes — those fictional or based on real women — push past gender expectations while beating the usual obstacles in their respective fields.
As you cheer on your favorite teams in real life, take a moment to appreciate the incredible films — half of which were helmed by women directors — that position female athletes front and center.
A League of Their Own (1992)
There's no crying in baseball — but there most certainly can be women in it. (Because there were! And there will be again!) Decades later, A League of Their Own is still the gold standard not just for women-centric sports movies but sports movies in general. Geena Davis stars as Dottie Hinson, the star catcher "who plays like Gehrig, and looks like Garbo," and Lori Petty is her competitive little sister, Kit, who can't match Dottie's talent or poise but makes up for it in drive.
Backed by a supporting cast that includes Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Tom Hanks as their washed-up coach with an alcohol problem, Penny Marshall's classic thrillingly dramatizes America's pastime alongside the uniquely complicated friendships and rivalries that exist between women. —Mary Sollosi
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