Netflix’s Brazil ’70: The Third Star Is the Football Drama the 2026 World Cup Season Deserves!

Football and politics have never been easy bedfellows, and nowhere was that tension more electric than in 1970 Mexico. Netflix’s stunning new Brazilian mini-series Brazil ’70: The Third Star arrives at the perfect moment — right as the world is buzzing with 2026 World Cup fever — and it does something far more ambitious than simply replay the greatest football team ever assembled. It asks a question most highlight reels conveniently ignore: what was it like inside the minds of those men before the glory?

Brazil ’70: The Third Star — Series Snapshot

The Story Behind the Glory

Pelé spent the months before the 1970 World Cup in Mexico telling people he was finished. He was not yet thirty, but a brutal tournament four years earlier — where defenders had kicked him out of the competition while referees looked the other way — had convinced him his body owed football nothing more. He had said, more than once and in public, that he would never play for the national team again. This is exactly the territory Brazil ’70: The Third Star inhabits — the doubt, the dread, and the political storm swirling around a squad that was supposed to be playing carefree football.

The series shows how sport, politics, and national pride became deeply intertwined during one of the most difficult periods in Brazilian history. The country was under military rule, and the players weren’t just carrying the hopes of millions of fans — they also found themselves caught up in a much larger political game. What’s on Netflix

What the Series Gets Right

The football itself is breathtaking. The match recreations are exceptionally well done. More than once, it feels as though you’re right there on the pitch. The filmmakers clearly have a deep love for the sport, and they recreate iconic moments with impressive attention to detail. The matches take on an almost mythical quality, with goals, dribbles, and game-changing moments presented on a grand scale without ever feeling over-the-top or unrealistic. What’s on Netflix

One of the biggest gambles the production made — and it pays off — was casting Lucas Agrícola, a complete newcomer, in the role of Pelé. He looks just like Pelé and has played football a lot in his life, and he plays well, but he had never acted, so the producers had to provide an acting coach and months of support for him to learn how to act, as director Pedro Morelli explained. The result is a performance that carries the weight of an icon without ever feeling like a costume impression.

Beyond recreating iconic goals and tactical masterstrokes, the series explores the fears, doubts and internal conflicts surrounding the squad during one of Brazil’s most turbulent political eras, featuring Rodrigo Santoro and Bruno Mazzeo as coaches Saldanha and Zagallo. The Art of VFX

A Minor Shortcoming Worth Noting

Too much focus is given solely to Pelé. No doubt he deserves it, but sadly, that leaves the other players and their roles slightly underdeveloped. Jairzinho and Carlos Alberto — legends in their own right — feel a little underserved given their role in that historic triumph. But it is a minor quibble in an otherwise finely crafted series.

The timing of this release is no accident. Dropping just days before the 2026 World Cup kicks off, it taps beautifully into the global conversation around football’s greatest moments. As Wikipedia’s entry on the 1970 FIFA World Cup details, Brazil’s victory that year remains widely regarded as the finest performance by any national team in tournament history — making it the perfect subject for a drama of this scale.

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