If you would like to play Small sided football there are ever expanding opportunities to do so. You can either seek to hire a pitch with a group of friends or join in any number of leagues that operate up and down the country. Some of these leagues operate grading games to ensure that where possible you get a chance to play against teams of similar ability. Most leagues tend to operate for 10 – 14 weeks and are repeated 3 – 4 times a year. Generally they also operate on a ‘pay and play’ basis with teams simply having to turn up and fulfil their fixtures. The league operators take on the rest of the administration requirements.
Small Sided football tends to take place in three types of venues;
- Purpose built five a side centres – the national operators of these are companies like Powerleague, Goals, Vida and JJB. There are also a growing number of smaller independent operators. For a list of Commercial providers click here.
- Traditional local authority sports centres – Indoor and outdoor
- School, local authority and club facilities - Usually entails an Artificial Turf Pitch that has been divided up into 2 or 3 Small Sided Pitches. A commercial or independent league organiser has usually hired the pitch.
In joining a league, participants should check that the competition is affiliated to the County Football Association. This will ensure that where available qualified FA Referees are employed and a disciplinary process is in place. To contact your local County FA click here.
The laws of the game tend to vary from centre to centre although the FA has recently issued a revised set of laws that should lead to greater uniformity.To view The FA laws for Small Sided football click here
The kids version of small sided football is Mini-Soccer. To find out more click here
In terms of costs, prices vary considerably across the country and also according to the quality of the facility in use. An hours football at evening peak time could cost a team between £35 to £50.