A football documentary exploring the world's love of the global game will be screened at the Bermuda Documentray Film Festival this weekend.

'Pelada' follows two former US college players, Luke Boughan and Gwendolyn Oxenham, on their year-long adventure searching for impromptu 'pick up' games in weird and wonderful locations.

Although Bermuda is not one of 25 soccer-smitten countries Boughan and Oxenham visit, the film would probably never have come together had it not been for national team player Kevin Richards.

For it was the PHC defender, a former team-mate of Boughan's at the University of Notre Dame, who introduced the couple to each other several years ago.

"Kevin had just left university but was staying with me and training with the team in preparation for pro soccer trials," said Boughan, who has returned to university to study law at California-Irvine.

"He actually met Gwendolyn on a soccer field when she approached him to ask him where the pick up games were. They dated for a while and then Kevin went away for trials and I guess I stepped in. The rest as they say is history."

Richards and Boughan won the Big East while playing together for perennial NCAA Division I powerhouse Notre Dame, although the team largely underachieved in the college championships.

"It was a great team, we didn't lose many games and had a great defence with Kevin," said 27-year-old Boughan. "He then scored the winning goal when we won the Big East, but we always choked in the national championships. We were a good team that underachieved.

"Kevin was one of my best friends in college. We came down to Bermuda one time. I liked it a lot. The scooters were fun. Kevin says I need to come back for Cup Match."

Boughan and 26-year-old Oxenham, who played for Santos FC women's team in Brazil, came up with the idea of Pelada during a late night at a coffee shop. What they wanted to do more than anything else was play football and travel the world.

"We were shocked nobody had done this before when we set out to do it. It's such a simple idea," said Boughan. "We knew if we didn't screw it up it had a lot of potential."

After raising roughly $30,000 in financing, Boughan, Oxenham and fellow directors Rebakah Fergusson and Ryan White, set off for South America in the fall of 2007 to film Pelada (which means 'naked' in Portuguese). They then returned to the US to continue fundraising before heading to Europe, Africa and Asia.

From a prison in Bolivia to a game with bootleggers in Kenya, from freestylers in China to women playing in the hijab in Iran, Pelada focuses on the people who play football for the fun of it, away from the bright stadium lights and manicured pitches. Boughan said the film's goal was to examine how ordinary people interact with each other through the game.

"It was amazing we did find so many games. We knew we had good footage and then it was a matter of piecing it altogether.

"In South Africa the guys working on the World Cup stadium were playing on their lunch breaks. They worked seven until seven, ate their food on their tea-time break just so they have the full lunch time to play soccer. That enthusiasm was great to see.

"In Kenya, we played in a tournament in the slums on a pitch that used to be a dump. They were putting money on the game, a day's wages, so you feel obligated to play well.

"It's funny, how well you play affects the access you get and how friendly they are to you. We got slapped pretty badly in our first game of the tournament and I didn't play well. I didn't have a whole lot of friends at that point, but that pushes you to do better the next time."

Peleda, which has been shown at film festivals around the world, will be screened at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute at 6.15 p.m. tomorrow.