Five-a-side football

Five-a-side football is an informal, small-sided game with flexible rules, often determined before play begins.

There are no offside rules, headers are allowed, and yellow and red cards work similarly to traditional 11-a-side football.

Five-a-side football is quite popular among youth organizations in the US, and some teams have secured sponsorship deals worth thousands of pounds.

Yellow cards may result in the offending player being sent to the "sin bin" for a predetermined length of time.

Red cards work in the same way as the 11-a-side game, the offending player being dismissed from the match.

A variation with three five-a-side teams playing simultaneously on a circular pitch 60 yards (55 m) in diameter.

This is another variation with increased pitch and team size; in this case with six outfield players and a goalkeeper on each side.

[7][8] There are many operators of five-a-side football in Europe (Powerleague, Goals Soccer Center, UrbanSoccer), and most of all in the UK.

[10][11] Small-side football facilities are increasingly popular as a way for clubs to generate revenue through rentals, birthday parties and corporate events and to allow early scouting of young players.

[12][13] Many organisations have chosen this format and modified it slightly to promote an environment where children can excel early in youth sports.

[15][16][17] In recent years a few five-a-side teams have found themselves sponsorship deals with thousand-pound contracts.

Sponsors feel with the vast numbers of participation in five-a-side football rising in the UK that it is a good place to advertise and tend to sponsor competition winners or league winners at local facilities so that they know that their deals are with the best five-a-side teams around the area.