Friendlies against opposition in different formats 

Please see below in red which is from FA Rules teams CANNOT play in the format they are not affiliated for.

We are receiving many requests from teams currently playing at under 8’s, 10’s and 12’s wanting to play friendlies against teams in the format they move into next season i.e. 7v7, 9v9 or 11v11.

The affiliation window for next season will open in mid May and once a team is affiliated for the relevant age group they can play friendlies apart from 11v11 games as these are not permitted during JUNE.

C5 C5.1 CHILDREN NOT REGISTERED AS ACADEMY PLAYERS.

(b) Notwithstanding the above, a child is permitted to “play up” in the age group above his or her chronological age group, irrespective of any difference in format or competition structure, save that a child who attains the age of 6 after 31 August is permitted to play only in the Under 7 age group, and may not play in the Under 8 age group for that playing season.

Children shall not play, and shall not be permitted or encouraged to play, in a match between sides of more than the stated number of players, according to their age group

The age groups that children are eligible to play in are set out in the table below, along with the permitted football formats for each of those age groups

ELIGIBLE AGE GROUPS MAXIMUM PERMITTED FORMAT
Under 7 5v5
Under 8 5v5
Under 9 7v7
Under 10 7v7
Under 11 9v9
Under 12 9v9
Under 13 11v11