It’s World Cup season, and Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow is basking in the football fever in the way he knows best — with a new film. And not just any movie, either, but a spiritual follow-up to the 2001 classic, Shaolin Soccer, which he directed and starred in.
Titled Kung Fu Soccer, the comedy marks his first directorial outing since 2019’s The New King of Comedy and is set to feature an all-women team. A 21-second teaser offers a familiar taste of Chow’s slapstick humour, opening with a ball kicked high into the sky and soaring past an aeroplane as the team looks on in awe. It then violently crashes back to Earth, forcing them to scramble for safety. “That’s way too crazy,” says a voiceover at the end of the clip, and that, in sum, perfectly summarises what viewers can expect.
“Kung Fu meets football. The legend returns!” reads the official description. “The first trailer is finally here—packed with action, laughter, heart, and the signature Stephen Chow magic fans have been waiting for. Dream big. Kick harder. Believe in the impossible.”
Alongside directing duties, Chow also wrote the film, which was previously named Shaolin Women’s Soccer. Announced cast members include Chinese actress Zhang Xiaofei (Hi, Mom), Hong Kong icon Carina Lau (Detective Dee), actress-model Dilraba Dilmurat, Lay Zhang of K-pop group Exo, and Japanese star Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin).
Shaolin Soccer, King of Comedy, and 2004’s Kung Fu Hustle are among Chow’s most well-known works, following his rise to prominence in the late 1990s as a comedy staple. Chow starred alongside Zhao Wei, Ng Man-tat, and Patrick Tse in Shaolin Soccer, which revolved around a former Shaolin monk who reunites with his five brothers, years after their master’s death, to apply their superhuman martial arts skills to play soccer and bring Shaolin kung fu to the masses. It became the highest-grossing film in Hong Kong on release and has since grown into a cult favourite.
Kung Fu Soccer will kick off first in China on 11 July before making its way to Singapore on 6 August, with local distributor Encore Films responsible for a worldwide release.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
Germaine Wong
