Clyde Best Film Set For Portland Run
Following sold out shows at global premieres in London and Bermuda this spring, Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story is scheduled to premiere at Portland’s Aladdin Theater on June 4-5 for a two-night run in Soccer City USA supported by Portland Timbers [MLS].
The powerful sports and social history documentary celebrates the extraordinary life and legacy of Bermudian legend Clyde Best — the first Black football superstar of the modern television era in England – and a pioneering figure who later played for the Portland Timbers in the NASL [1977-81] and helped shape the early growth of professional soccer in the United States.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Dan Egan, the documentary traces Best’s journey from Bermuda to English football’s top flight, where he rose to prominence with West Ham United in the late 1960s and ’70s.
Facing open racism while performing at the highest level of the game, Best not only broke barriers but excelled — scoring 58 goals in 218 appearances and becoming a symbol of resilience, excellence, and change.
Among other key moments, the film revisits Easter Sunday 1972, when Best, Clive Charles, and Ade Coker became the first Black trio to start a match in England’s First Division — an historic milestone that transcended sport.
The documentary also chronicles Best’s vital role in the American game during its formative professional years.
In the North American Soccer League, he helped the Tampa Bay Rowdies capture the 1975 Soccer Bowl and later became a fan favorite with the Timbers, leaving a lasting imprint on the US game on and off the pitch.
Best and Charles re-united as teammates at the Timbers in the late 1970s and Best’s close personal relationship with Charles and the Charles family is an important theme explored in the film, including scenes shot in and around Portland.
Each show is more than just a film screening but a theatre experience featuring conversations, Q&A with stars from the film and giveaways like a trip to Bermuda and Timbers tickets.
Additional screenings are scheduled for Atlanta, Georgia, on June 20, Nashua, New Hampshire, on June 26, and Providence, Rhode Island, on June 27. Other locations are to be announced.
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