REVIEW: Kung Fu Soccer (2026 Film) - Directed by Stephen Chow

Review by Jon Donnis

Kung Fu Soccer difficult to judge without thinking about Shaolin Soccer. Written and directed by Stephen Chow, this spiritual successor takes the familiar idea of combining football with martial arts and gives it a new identity by focusing on the fictional Emei women's football team.

The setup works well. Emei are a grassroots team of ordinary working women, struggling with limited funding, poor facilities, injuries and prejudice against women playing football. Led by veteran captain Shuangshuang (Zhang Xiaofei), they enter the tournament as huge underdogs and gradually discover that teamwork is more important than relying on one player to carry them.

The football is one of the film's biggest strengths. This is obviously not realistic football, but that is hardly the point. Once the matches begin, the combination of football and kung fu produces some wonderfully ridiculous sequences, with martial arts techniques, exaggerated abilities and increasingly absurd action. The final match is particularly entertaining and delivers the sort of escalating madness that fans of Shaolin Soccer will be hoping for.

The comedy also has a very recognisable Stephen Chow feel. There are exaggerated characters, slapstick situations and plenty of physical humour, while the cartoonish visual effects suit the deliberately over-the-top style. The actresses playing the Emei team are also convincing during the football and martial arts sequences, helping the action feel more believable within the film's deliberately absurd world.

I particularly like the decision to centre the story around a women's team. It gives Kung Fu Soccer its own identity rather than simply repeating Shaolin Soccer with a different cast. The international tournament also gives the opposing teams their own personalities, rather than making them generic villains.

Unfortunately, the film never quite reaches the level of Shaolin Soccer. That film found a stronger balance between comedy, heart and memorable characters, while Kung Fu Soccer sometimes feels more like an attempt to recreate that formula.

The emotional story is where it falls short. Shuangshuang's relationships with Yu Long (Dilraba Dilmurat) and Xu Feng (Lay Zhang) are interesting, and her realisation that she has put too much pressure on her teammates gives her character some development. However, there are too many players and supporting characters competing for attention, meaning several never receive enough development to make their personal stories particularly meaningful.

The comedy is also inconsistent. Some jokes are genuinely funny, but others feel familiar, and the constant slapstick can become tiring. The CGI does not always help either, with some larger sequences looking noticeably cheap and unfinished.

The football can be equally frustrating. Even allowing for the deliberately ridiculous approach, some of the action makes little sense from a footballing perspective, while the repeated structure of the tournament means some matches begin to feel similar.

Despite those problems, I enjoyed Kung Fu Soccer. At around 100 minutes it perhaps feels slightly longer than necessary, but there is enough comedy, action and inventive football to keep it entertaining.

It is not going to replace Shaolin Soccer, and it lacks some of the spark that made Stephen Chow's older films so memorable. However, as a silly, energetic sports comedy with plenty of kung fu and outrageous football, it delivers enough fun to justify its existence.

This is not really a film for serious football fans, nor is it likely to appeal to anyone unfamiliar with Stephen Chow's particular style of Chinese comedy. For fans of Shaolin Soccer, though, there is plenty here to enjoy.

I score Kung Fu Soccer 8 out of 10.

In selected cinemas now