‘Football Parents’ (2025) Netflix Series Review - Chaos, Cleats, and Competitive Grown-Ups

You’d think youth football is about kids learning teamwork, discipline, and maybe getting a juice box at halftime. Football Parents, the Dutch Netflix comedy created by Ilse Warringa, is here to tell you: wrong. It’s about the parents. The sideline battles. The WhatsApp wars. The snack rotations, fundraisers, and those one or two overly “invested” people who turn every weekend match into the World Cup. This show isn’t a deep philosophical journey. It’s a comedy about how adults, when left unchecked, can turn children’s sports into full-blown soap operas. And for the most part, it’s a hilariously accurate one.

The story kicks off with Lilian (played by Warringa herself), a recently divorced, generally normal mother whose son, Levi, joins a new local football team. She’s just trying to blend in, keep her kid happy, and maybe make a few friends along the way. Instead, she’s thrown into the swirling madness of other parents who’ve clearly missed their own shot at glory. You’ve got Marenka, the self-declared team queen bee with color-coded spreadsheets and the energy of a motivational speaker hopped up on espresso. Then there’s the overly enthusiastic dad who treats every game like it’s being broadcast live on national television. And of course, the quiet weird ones who say just enough to keep you guessing.

Watching Lilian try to navigate this social minefield is half the fun. She's not some quirky goofball or a hot mess. She’s just... real. And that’s refreshing. Her deadpan expressions and subtle panic as things spiral around her make her a great anchor for the series. She’s relatable in the way that you’ve definitely been her, or stood next to someone like her, at a school event or PTA meeting.

The comedy leans into the absurd, but not so far that it becomes cartoonish. It’s rooted in the kind of secondhand embarrassment that comes from recognizing these people in your own life. The ones who take the bake sale too seriously or start turf wars over who’s bringing orange slices. Football Parents turns the mundane into a battleground, and it’s honestly quite satisfying to watch from a safe distance.

The show is shot at an actual football club in Amsterdam, which gives it a bit of grounding amid all the ridiculousness. There’s something about the real grass, real buildings, and familiar chaos of youth sports that keeps the humor from floating off into total fantasy. It’s not trying to be sleek or stylized. The world of Football Parents is scruffy, awkward, and occasionally uncomfortable, which is exactly right.

But let’s be honest, the series isn’t flawless. There’s a definite point, around episode four or five, where you start to feel like you’ve seen this joke already. And maybe two or three times before. The characters, while entertaining, don’t always get room to grow. Marenka, for example, is funny, but she’s also stuck in a loop of being that mom. You’re left wanting to see a crack in her glossy overachiever shell. Some more emotional depth or vulnerability would’ve gone a long way.

The same goes for the kids. This is technically a show about their football team, but they mostly exist in the background while their parents run wild. Occasionally, there’s a sweet moment—Levi and his new friend Vito bonding over a shared sense of confusion, for instance—but these are rare. The adults suck up all the oxygen in the room. Which, I suppose, is part of the point. But still, a bit more balance would’ve added something special.

Despite that, there’s a charm to how Football Parents embraces its identity. It doesn’t try to be groundbreaking or emotionally profound. It just wants to poke fun at a specific social setting and, more often than not, it succeeds. The cast clearly has chemistry, and even when the script drags a bit, they carry the scenes with enough energy to keep things moving.

Warringa deserves credit for knowing her audience. She’s not trying to reinvent the sitcom. She’s just holding up a mirror to the world of overly enthusiastic parents, and the reflection is both hilarious and a little uncomfortable. You’ll laugh, you’ll wince, and you’ll probably send a silent apology to every coach, referee, or team manager you’ve ever met.

In the end, Football Parents is a show that scores more than it misses. It’s a little too repetitive at times, and it plays it safe with its emotional arcs, but it’s also sharp, well-acted, and genuinely funny in a way that doesn’t rely on cringeworthy or clichés. If you’ve ever had to sit through a child’s sports game, you’ll get it. And if you haven’t, this show might make you thankful for that.

Final Score- [6.5/10]
Reviewed by - Anjali Sharma
Follow @AnjaliS54769166 on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times