Kung fu competition and federation management

Kung Fu Soccer (Chinese: 功夫女足, lit. 'Kungfu Women's Football') is a 2026 sports comedy film written and directed by Stephen Chow. A spiritual successor to the 2001 film Shaolin Soccer, the film follows the journey of a fictional Chinese women's football team called "Emei" as they compete in an ultimate football tournament.

The film stars Zhang Xiaofei, Dilraba Dilmurat, and Lay Zhang in the lead roles, with member of the China women's national football team Zhao Lina joining the cast in a special guest appearance role as the chairperson of the tournament. It also features special appearances by Carina Lau and Takeru Satoh. With a budget of CN¥380 million, it is the most expensive film of Chow's directorial career.

Kung Fu Soccer was released in China on July 11, 2026, and is scheduled for release in Hong Kong on August 13.

The Emei women's football team, a grassroots squad composed of ordinary working women, enters the Asian Women's Champions League as heavy underdogs. Struggling with inadequate funding, poor training facilities, and persistent prejudice against women playing football, the players balance training with part-time jobs while coping with injuries, advancing age, and personal setbacks. The team's veteran captain, Shuangshuang, serves as its de facto coach.

Shuangshuang, her longtime teammate Yu Long, and their childhood friend Xu Feng grew up together practicing football. Although Shuangshuang and Yu Long share a close bond forged through years of training, their friendship has become strained after Yu Long left the team in the past to pursue marriage, only for the relationship to fail. Xu Feng, acting as Shuangshuang's senior and mentor, helps her refine her skills, allowing Emei to dominate in the early stages of the tournament. The team overwhelms the Jinlong team, establishing itself as a surprise contender. As the tournament progresses, the players undergo increasingly unconventional training, incorporating techniques inspired by Wing Chun and Tai chi.

Emei's momentum is halted by the Ewha team. Relying on psychological tricks, Ewha's players use visual distractions, deceptive contact, and manipulative tactics to confuse both Emei and the match officials. The unexpected defeat forces Shuangshuang to confront her own shortcomings. She realizes that her relentless desire to win and leadership style have placed excessive pressure on her teammates instead of allowing them to play to their strengths.

At the same time, Xu Feng falls out with the players and turns against them, while the team's funding collapses and its tactical preparations are exposed to rival teams, leaving Emei on the verge of disbanding. Rather than waiting for outside help, the players choose to save the club themselves through solidarity and renewed determination. Shuangshuang reconciles with Yu Long and learns to trust the rest of the squad instead of relying solely on her own abilities. She also apologizes to Xueye, a teammate she had previously driven away with harsh criticism, persuading her to rejoin the team. Several reserve players, including the mild-mannered Sangbiao, are also given important opportunities to contribute.

The revitalized Emei team advances to the championship match against the Taiga team, whose players display superhuman physical abilities. Adopting a more relaxed mindset, Shuangshuang entrusts the match to the entire squad rather than carrying the burden alone. Every player contributes, with Sangbiao unexpectedly scoring a crucial point. Despite their creativity and teamwork, Emei narrowly loses the final. Although they fail to win the championship, the team's courageous performance earns the applause of the spectators and the respect of their opponents.

In June 2023, Stephen Chow took to social media to announce the completion of the script for his latest cinematic venture, initially titled Shaolin Women's Soccer.

Principal photography on the film begun in Shenzhen, China in March 2025. The shooting period lasted three months, with some scenes shot at the Daya Bay Sports Center in Huizhou.

On 22 June 2026, Chow announced on social media that Kung Fu Soccer was scheduled to be released in July 2026. A teaser trailer for the film was released on 6 July, with its planned release date in mainland China scheduled for 11 July 2026. The film is set to release theatrically in Hong Kong on 13 August 2026.

The film opened at number one in China on 11 July 2026, earning CN¥260.6 million (US$38.3 million) on the day of release and CN¥500.3 million (US$73.6 million) over its first weekend.

The South China Morning Post's Edmund Lee gave the film two stars out of five, finding the film intermittently amusing but hampered by a muddled story and mediocre soccer sequences.

The film sparked controversy in South Korea for depicting the Ewha team, who are South Korean and likely a reference to the real Ewha Womans University in Seoul, as deceptive, violent, habitually cheating, and obsessed with their appearance rather than athletic ability. In one scene, they also use awkward Korean dialogue. Professor Seo Kyoung-duk of Sungshin Women's University said of the movie, "No matter how fictional a movie may be, it is wrong to repeatedly insult Korean sports." He compared the film's portrayal of the Ewha team to China Central Television propaganda against the K-beauty industry and another Chinese film from 2022 that also portrays Korean athletes as habitual cheaters, and urged the filmmakers to avoid invoking negative stereotypes of foreign nationals.

Kung Fu Soccer at IMDb