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Paramount+

Paramount+ released The Billion Dollar Goal on Monday, a three-part documentary that charts the rise of American soccer and focuses on the buildup to Paul Caligiuri's goal that kicked off the modern era for the sport in the country.

The Billion Dollar Goal is largely narrated by late acclaimed journalist Grant Wahl, who sat down for a wide-ranging 150 minute interview  in August 2022 and is credited as a supervising producer on the project. The series serves as a tribute to Wahl, who died in December 2022, and his decades-long career covering American soccer, as well as the immeasurable impact he left on the sport.

Wahl's friends and other notable people in American soccer history also lend their voices and stories to the docuseries, providing a comprehensive retelling of U.S. soccer history from success at the 1950 World Cup through the team's 40 year World Cup drought.

The Paramount+ original is currently streaming on the platform, and is the latest installment in Stories from the Beautiful Game, Paramount+'s soccer documentary collection. The collection includes Football Must Go On and the Emmy-nominated Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give Up.

How to watch

The Billion Dollar Goal will exclusively stream on Paramount+ from Monday, Dec. 11. You can watch the trailer below.

About The Billion Dollar Goal

The 1950 World Cup was the setting for one of the tournament's biggest upsets -- the U.S. men's national team's 1-0 defeat of England. The moment should have kickstarted the evolution of the sport in the country, but it was instead met with little fanfare and then followed up by a 40 year spell in which the USMNT missed out on the World Cup.

The Billion Dollar Goal chronicles soccer's strained journey to survive in the U.S. during that 40 year drought, from how immigrant communities fostered the sport's growth during that spell to Pele's glamorous spell in the North American Soccer League that felt like it would change soccer's trajectory in the U.S. for good. His departure, though, was soon followed by the NASL's financial collapse and a years-long period in which there was no professional soccer being played in the country.

The USMNT's unlikely qualification for the 1990 World Cup, though, changed that. Caligiuri scored the lone goal in the team's World Cup qualifying win over Trinidad and Tobago, beginning the modern era of American soccer that has seen professional men's and women's soccer blossom ever since.