Playing time and ball sizes in Football Soccer.
13th February 2011

Since the introduction of mini-soccer in the late 1990’s, organised football has been opened up and made accessible to many more younger children, who can now enjoy playing football in a structured way.

Free DOWNLOAD for Match Times & Pitch Sizes here. 

Mini-soccer has brought with it a lot of modified rules to make the game more enjoyable and allow young players as many touches of the ball as possible. The rules encompass every aspect of the game including the size of the pitches, number of players, length of the matches and size of the ball.  

The table below shows a list of ages and a suggested allowable length of matches for each age group and the size of the ball used. To avoid over playing children and to stop them being burned out at an early age, guidelines and recommendations have been produced, which specifies maximum playing times.  

These recommendations apply not only to regular league matches, but also to weekend tournaments and exhibitions.

It is important to understand that for mini-soccer the allowable total length of time a young player should play in any one day is 60 minutes

The FA recommend that Children should not play two full games in one day, and although they may appear capable of doing it, this may well have unseen long term health implications for the child.

Player Age, Game Length & Ball Size

A child who has reached the age of 6 as at midnight on 31st August in a playing season shall not play, and shall not be permitted nor encouraged to play, in a match of any kind in that playing season.

The age at which a child can play competitve football is 8 years. They can play in competitive leagues at under 9. However this depends on the league rules, as some leagues may allow competition at under 8.

Teenagers may play in adult football for adult teams, and again this depends on the rules of the league. The earliest age a youth can play for an adult team is 15, though this is with written consent of a parent or guardian and only if league rules allow.

Ball Dimensions

 If you found this post useful try reading these:

• FA Young Player Development Recommendations

• FA The Future Game

• FA The Coaching Pathway