Sky Arts Orders Football Opera

Sky Arts has commissioned Gods of the Game: A Football Opera, a new opera about corruption in football that will coincide with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Gods of the Game: A Football Opera tells the story of two childhood friends who team up to front their nation’s bid to host a World Cup tournament. Upon encountering a dark world of bribery and corruption overseen by the game’s president, they enlist support from the gods of the game and set out to restore football to its rightful owners—the players and the fans.

Sung in English across 90 minutes, Gods of the Game: A Football Opera will feature a chorus of football fans who will be given a crash course in opera before performing in a U.K. football stadium. The opera will play to in-person audiences at Grange Park Opera, Surrey, in October and air on Sky Arts, NOW and Freeview shortly afterward.

The opera will be directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, artistic director of the Young Vic, with music composed by the Five-a-Side composing team (Julian Philips, Aran O’Grady, Ábel M.G.E, Blasio Kavuma and Lucy Armstrong) and words from writer and librettist Phil Porter.

Gods of the Game: A Football Opera is produced by Factory Films with Grange Park Opera for Sky Arts.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts and Entertainment, commented: “One of our aims at Sky Arts is to move beyond TV from time to time and help create work that lives in the real world, so we’re really excited to bring this brilliant idea to the stage with Grange Park Opera, Factory Films and Kwame Kwei-Armah. Football is laced with all the drama you need for operatic treatment—heroes, villains, rivalry, joy, despair; it’s all there and beautifully captured in Gods of the Game.”

Grange Park Opera CEO Wasfi Kani CBE said: “Wow, I’ve never watched a football match. Now is the time to expand my horizons. I do understand the off-side rule but, at the end of the day, I need to brush up on my football clichés.”

Kwei-Armah said: “Opera. Football. A marriage made in heaven. Both full of passion, drama and charismatic stars. I’m incredibly excited to bring this extraordinary idea to life at Grange Park Opera and on Sky Arts. Full casting will be announced in the coming months.”