[2] Hornby adapted the book for the screen and fictionalised the story, concentrating on Arsenal's First Division championship-winning season in 1988–89[2] and its effect on the protagonist's romantic relationship.

In flashbacks, we watch Paul as a child as his dad, who he only sees sporadically as his parents are divorced, tries to connect with his children.

She offers to write suggested dates into his diary, but Paul is reluctant as he doesn’t have the next season’s football fixture list yet.

Nevertheless, Sarah finds herself influenced by Paul and gradually drawn into an interest in football, and so she goes with him to see an Arsenal match.

Paul was offered the position of Head of Year, which he wasn’t initially interested in, as it would be more work for more money that he didn’t need.

He is pleased until Paul tells him why, about being with Sarah and the upcoming baby, which the headmaster considers sets a bad example to pupils.

The same day Paul interviews for the job, for which they turn him down, Arsenal loses an important game, worsening their chances to win the championship.

Paul asks him if he had the choice between success in this match or a positive outcome of the Arsenal-Liverpool league championship contest, what would he decide; his answer is the latter.

He reveals that he has resigned from his teaching post, as he needs to seek better pay elsewhere and considers it untenable that they remain colleagues with him the estranged father of her child.

Sarah's buzzing up at such an inopportune moment earns her a myriad of profanity out the window, as Paul shouts out that the interruption comes at the worst occasion of his life.

It being the first time the club had won a championship after an 18-year-drought, the city comes alive with celebrations, as excited Arsenal fans pour into the streets.

In 2005, the film was remade in an American version also entitled Fever Pitch starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore, with the 2004 World Series Boston Red Sox replacing Arsenal.