Grassroots Football Squad Size

Squad Size ( U7, U8, U9, U10)

What is the perfect squad size for your Grassroots Football Team ?

We look at what is the optimal size for you squad, dependant on your age group, and why.

Game Time Calculation

If you are wanting to provide equal game time across your squad, there are 2 general calculations.

1.	With a Perm Goalkeeper : Game Duration x No of outfield places / squad size eg for 5 a side game with 7 players ( 40 x 4 / 6 = 26.6 mins out of 40 per game per player )
2.	Without a Perm Goalkeeper: Game Duration x Total No of places / squad size eg for 5 a side game with 7 players ( 40 x 5 / 7 = 28.57 mins out of 40 per game per player )

Squad Size ( U7-U8 – 5 a side )

The Optimal Squad size for U7 to U8 teams is 7 players.

If you have a permanent Goalkeeper this allows the other 6 players to split the 4 x 10 minute quarters fairly giving each player, on average 26.6 minutes per game out of 40 possible.

(40 minutes x 4 outfield places = 160 minutes / 6 players = 26.6 minutes)

If you don’t have a goalkeeper it will allow, on average, 28,57 minutes per game, per player.

( 40 minutes x 5 places = 200 minutes / 7 players = 28.57 minutes )

If you don’t have a goalkeeper the best way is to choose 2 goalkeepers per game on a rotational basis. Both Players that play in goal, also play the other 20 minutes outfield also.

Over the course of the season the minutes will balance out.

It gives you more than enough cover should you have injury or illness and will allow a good rotation of positions as they develop.

8 players works ok as well, anything over 8 generally means you are down to 20 minutes per player per game.

Squad Size ( U9-U10 – 7 a side )

The Optimal Squad size for U9 to U10 teams is 9 players.

For 7 a side, having more than 2 substitutes can lead to one of two problems.

Using the Calculation above (Assuming a Perm Goalkeeper) for a Squad of 10

( 50 minutes x 6 places = 300 minutes / 9 players = 33.33 minutes )

Means 33.33 minutes game time out of 50. Thats almost 17 minutes sat out. But there is also the timing of the Substitutions to consider.

Do you have players off just once for 17 minutes, or twice , in each half for 8.5 minutes a time.

If you are just doing it once, that breaks the game down into 3 sections for you. So you would need to make the following subs

3 x Substitutions after 16.5 minutes.

3 x Substitutions after 8.5 minutes of the second half.

Heres an example of how it works using one of our Teamsheets (Download your free Copy)

Having 9 players in your squad increases that game time by an additional 5 minutes per player

Using the Calculation above (Assuming a Perm Goalkeeper) for a Squad of 9

( 50 minutes x 6 places = 300 minutes / 8 players = 37.5 minutes )

Each player is then only out for 12.5 minutes per game which is a lot better. Taking sickness and injury into consideration, this should also give you plenty of cover.

Managing your Squad Size Game Time

Some coaches don’t like to measure equal game time over a match, some like to do over a longer period, whether that be a month, 3 months or a season.

To enable you to do that you need to be able to track your players game time each week as see how it is averaging out.

Take a look at our Excel Based Football Data System.

Each weekly teamsheet feeds into the systems and collates multiple stats for you and your coaches to look over.

Have a look at HOW IT WORKS here and see why Teams & Clubs across the Country and Abroad are using this system.