Football (soccer)

Want to join in the most popular sport in the world? Or to join the friendly crowd supporting your local team?

then get into football!

Association Football (or Soccer) has enormous numbers of supporters in Britain, and is one of the most popular participant sports at grassroots level. There are enough under 21 players to have leagues with different age ranges from under 7 up, and women’s soccer is growing fantastically.

Soccer is played almost year round, with most clubs having a break over the summer. There are many variants to the traditional 11-a-side game, with 5-a-side football being very popular.

Many other different games are called football, including Rugby and American Football. They are not covered here.

football: a profile

take part? in a team
where? inside | outside
energy/fitness level? full on
sociability? too full on!
disability access*? on equal terms**
can be played? competitively
contact sport? some collisions
try it cost? low
play it cost? low

* Individual circumstances vary hugely, and this affects participation in any sport. This guide is necessarily general in nature and may not suit your situation.
** Depending on circumstances. There are a growing number of Disability Football Clubs. See below and ‘More information’.

Paralympic Association football

Paralympic football is Association Football adapted for athletes with a disability, and is included in the Paralympic Games. There are two main types:

Football 5-a-side is an adaptation of football for athletes with visual impairments including blindness.
Football 7-a-side is an adaption of association football for athletes with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders.

The Football Association have details of Disability Football Clubs nationwide.

starting football?

going to give football a go? Great!

The next step is to find a club. The Football Association calculate there are 38,000 teams across England and have a Find a Club locator to help you contact a club near you. Football is well covered in papers’ sport sections - try your community paper for local teams.

For more advice, try the Football Development Advisor at your local County Football Association or for Women, the FA’s ‘Getting Involved’ page in the women’s section. Also see the links in ‘More Information’ on the right and on our getting started page.

If you’re starting a team, and need somewhere to play, ‘ActivePlaces’ is an online database of sports facilities.

not quite right for you?

Then you might like to try:

hockey
rugby
refereeing - The FA is looking for referees