Foot 2 Rue

Foot 2 Rue (also known as Street Football) is a French–Italian animated television series created by Marco Beretta and Serge Rosenzweig. It originally aired between December 31, 2005, and July 10, 2010, on France 3. The show follows a diverse group of five children who form a street football team and find camaraderie through the game.^[1][2]

Foot 2 Rue
Also known as	Foot 2 Rue (France), La Compagnia dei Celestini (Italy)
Genre	Animation, sports, children
Created by	Marco Beretta, Serge Rosenzweig
Inspired by	La Compagnia dei Celestini [it; uk] by Stefano Benni
Composer	Akhenaton
Country of origin	France, Italy
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	104
Original release
Network	France 3
Release	31 December 2005 (2005-12-31) – 4 February 2022 (2022-02-04)

In July 2019, a fourth season was announced, developed by Zodiak Kids and Monello Productions. It retained the original visual style and premiered in February 2022.^[3]

Synopsis

Abandoned by their parents, five diverse children come together through their shared love of street football, using the game to overcome loneliness and build community. Led by Tag, they dream of competing in the first-ever Street Football World Cup together.

Production and broadcast

In a 2023 podcast produced by 20 Minutes, co-creator Giorgio Welter reflected on the intent behind Foot 2 Rue, describing it as one of the first inclusive animated series, meant to represent the lives of children from working-class backgrounds who play football in the streets.^[4] The concept for the series was inspired by the Italian novel La Compagnia dei Celestini [it; uk] by Stefano Benni, which follows a group of children escaping an orphanage to join a rebellious street football tournament.^[5] The story was adapted into the animated series, which aired in Italy under the title La Compagnia dei Celestini on Rai 2 beginning on November 24, 2005. The Italian version consisted of 26 episodes, each 26 minutes long, and was broadcast daily as part of the children's program Random. It was co-produced by De Mas & Partners, Télé Images, Rai Fiction, and France 3, with animation completed in Milan and Paris.^[6]

Under the title Foot 2 Rue in France and Street Football in English-speaking regions, the show gained international distribution. The fourth season revival, Foot 2 Rue – Le Retour, was broadcast again on France Télévisions. It was co-produced by Zodiak Kids and Monello Productions and scheduled for release at the end of 2021.^[3]

Video games

An official video game, Street Football, was released for the Nintendo DS in 2008. It was covered by gaming outlets such as Pocket Gamer, which noted the game's appeal to fans of the show and its pick-up-and-play accessibility.^[7] Additionally, an online browser-based football game tied to the series was made available in 2010 and noted for its interactive appeal for children.^[8]

Reception

A 2006 article in Le Parisien described the series as la nouvelle série culte de milliers d'enfants ("the cult series for thousands of children") and un phénomène de mode dans les cours de récré ("a phenomenon in schoolyards"), indicating its strong resonance with young audiences at the time.^[5]