Copa '71, The Spark and Sahlab

Weekend Passport 03.18

Passport 03.18

Weekend Passport is Stranger's Guide's weekly subscribers-only newsletter curated by Deputy Publisher, Ambia Elias. Each week we bring you globally-inspired recommendations for your weekend activities from the team and friends of Stranger’s Guide.

Watch: Copa ‘71

A few weeks ago, I was on a flight scrolling through movie options and I landed on Copa ‘71. As a former soccer player, World Cup lover and big USWNT fan, I hadn’t heard of this film before and I was intrigued.

Copa ‘71 is a documentary exploring the first unofficial Women’s World Cup tournament that took place in Mexico City in 1971. The documentary shows tons of suppressed archival footage from the games and delves into the sexism and hardships these women faced. Despite filling stadiums with over 100,000 fans and international excitement for the players, it was 20 years before the first official Women’s World Cup was held in 1991. Watch this extraordinary documentary here on YouTube, Apple TV or Amazon Prime.

Listen: The Spark 

This summer, young rappers from The Kabin Studio in Cork and Lisdoonvarna in Ireland released a song called “The Spark” which, according to Rolling Stone UK, became the “biggest banger of the summer.” The Kabin Crew and Lisdoonvarna Crew teamed up to make this song partially in celebration of Cruinniú na nÓg, an Irish holiday of free creativity for children and young people. Ireland is the only country in the world to have a national day of creativity for the youth. The viral upbeat song which boasts messages of positivity, empowerment and perseverance, raked in over 2 billion views and was just longlisted for 2025 Grammy Award—give it a listen here!

Read: The Vegetarian