Africa United

2005 | Documentary | Comedy, Sport

Storyline

Zico came to Iceland from Marocco to seek his fortune. After ten years Zico becomes bankrupt, meaning he can't work anymore. Left desperate and depressed Zico decides to bring life to his amateur team called Africa United and take them into the semi-professional 3rd division. He calls upon immigrants all-over Iceland, players from Marocco, Nigeria, Columbia, Serbia, Kosovo, Gambia and Guinea to help realize his vision.

Starring

Zakaria Anbari, Cheik Bangoura, Arnar Björnsson, St Paul Edeh, Mohamed Jónas El Asri, Alhagie Abdoulie Joof, Zlatko Krickic, Alexander Munos, Ólafur Magnús Ólafsson

Directed by

Olaf de Fleur

Written by

Olaf de Fleur

Director's note

The beginning, yes, I give all that credit to my little bro, Benedikt, the material he nosed up enabled us to make a fantastic trailer, show it, and get sponsors, co-producers and whatnot. I always wanted to make a film about football, and through the years I’ve seen many bad films about this beautiful game. Instead of risking addition to that misery, my colleges (Ragnar Santos and Benedikt Johannesson) and myself decided to find an authentic football team to see the "real” thing happen on the screen. I had known the team Africa United, played with them for several years and when the manager Zico Zakaria decided to enter the 3rd division it all came by itself. The contrasts were obvious, an amateur team with players from over 10 countries hoping to succeed in the semi-professional 3rd division in Iceland. The filming process took over 3 years in total, shot at various locations in Iceland, Serbia, Marocco, England and Germany.