# Champions (2018 film)

Champions (Spanish: Campeones) is a 2018 Spanish sports comedy-drama film directed by Javier Fesser and written by Fesser and David Marqués. It was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.

## Plot

This movie is inspired by Aderes team in Burjassot (Valencia), a team created with people with intellectual disabilities that won twelve Spanish championships between 1999 and 2014.
Marco Montes is the assistant coach of the basketball team CB Estudiantes. He is an arrogant man with bad manners and is fired from his job after pushing the head coach during a game over a disagreement over team strategy. After driving drunk into the back of a police car, Marco is ordered to either spend two years in prison or ninety days of community service, in the form of coaching Los Amigos, a team of basketball players with disabilities. At first, Montes complains about coaching the disabled players calling them subnormales (below normal). However, as he continues to coach the team, he realizes that each of the players has a unique background and they are extremely persistent in working together and playing well.
Meanwhile, Marco and his wife Sonia are fighting with each other because Sonia wants a child and Marco is not ready yet. In particular, Iván, one of Marco's friends, meets Sonia at a bar and tells her that he is meeting with Marco over the weekend and that she can come to confront Marco then. Iván then proceeds to tell Marco that he is not going to go out with him in an attempt to get some alone time with Sonia because he finds her attractive. However, Marco still shows up and discusses with Sonia, they leave the bar still upset with each other. After Los Amigos's first away game, Marco realizes that it is incredibly difficult to travel with the team given their abrupt and often annoying interactions with the other people on public transportation. Marco tells Sonia about these difficulties, and she helps loan a camper van from her coworker at a sports gear shop. She then joins Marco and his team over several games and their relationship improves.
In the end, Los Amigos place second in the National Series, and Marco agrees to have a child with Sonia. As Marco leaves the Los Amigos team to go back to coaching professionally, he is thanked by all the team members for changing their lives.

## Cast

* Javier Gutiérrez as Marco Montes
* Juan Margallo as Julio
* Athenea Mata [es] as Sonia

## Production

The film is a Películas Pendelton, Rey de Babia AIE, Morena Films, and Telefónica Studios production.

## Release

Distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain, the film was theatrically released in Spain on 6 April 2018.

## Reception
### Box office

The film is the highest-grossing Spanish language film of 2018 in Spain, with a box-office taking of €19.1 million from 3.3 million admissions.

### Critical response

Champions has an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 12 reviews, and an average rating of 6.4/10.

### Accolades

It was selected as the Spanish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards, but it was not nominated. The film won three Goya Awards, including Best Film, Best New Actor (Jesús Vidal), and Best Original Song ("Este es el momento", by Coque Malla). The film received five nominations for the 6th Platino Awards, including Best Ibero-American Film and Best Director.
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
| 2019 | 24th Forqué Awards | Best Film | Best Film | Won |
| 2019 | 24th Forqué Awards | Best Actor | Javier Gutiérrez | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Feroz Awards | Best Comedy Film | Best Comedy Film | Won |
| 2019 | 6th Feroz Awards | Best Director | Javier Fesser | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Feroz Awards | Best Actor in a Film | Javier Gutiérrez | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Feroz Awards | Best Trailer | | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Film | Best Film | Won |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Director | Javier Fesser | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Original Screenplay | Javier Fesser, David Marqués | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Actor | Javier Gutiérrez | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Juan Margallo | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best New Actress | Gloria Ramos | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best New Actor | Jesús Vidal | Won |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Editing | Javier Fesser | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Production Supervision | Luis Fernández Lago | Nominated |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Original Song | "Este es el momento" by Coque Malla | Won |
| 2019 | 33rd Goya Awards | Best Sound | Arman Ciudad, Charly Schmukler, Alfonso Raposo | Nominated |
| 2019 | 28th Actors and Actresses Union Awards | Best Film Actor in a Secondary Role | Juan Margallo | Won |
| 2019 | 6th Platino Awards | Best Ibero-American Film | Best Ibero-American Film | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Platino Awards | Best Director | Javier Fesser | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Platino Awards | Best Screenplay | Javier Fesser, David Marqués | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Platino Awards | Best Actor | Javier Gutiérrez | Nominated |
| 2019 | 6th Platino Awards | Cinema and Education in Values | Cinema and Education in Values | Won |

## Future
### Documentary

A documentary called Ni distintos ni diferentes: Campeones, which tells the true stories of the protagonists of the film, premiered on November 16, 2018 in Spanish theaters.

### Sequel

A sequel called Championext was released on August 18, 2023 in Spanish cinemas.

### Remakes

In 2020, shooting began for an Arabic-language remake under the same name which was released commercially on March 10, 2022 in theaters in Saudi Arabia. On April 5, 2022, a German-language remake titled Weil wir Champions sind directed by Christoph Schnee was released. On March 10, 2023, an English-language remake of the same name directed by Bobby Farrelly was released. Sitaare Zameen Par, an Indian remake starring Aamir Khan which serves as a spiritual sequel to his 2007 film Taare Zameen Par, is scheduled to release in 2025.