England's under-sevens swap 5v5 for 3v3 with no keeper, no ref, no subs

England's under-sevens are playing 3v3 football this season.

The Football Association has replaced 5v5 as the entry format for the 2026-27 campaign. The new games have no goalkeepers, no referees and no substitutes, so all three players stay on the pitch together BBC Sport.

Until the end of last season, 5v5 was where organised football began in England. The last big reset came in 1999, when the FA introduced mini-soccer, small-sided football designed for children, for under-10s. This is the next step down the age ladder.

The change followed two years of research with Liverpool John Moores University. Analysts studied more than 400 games from under-6 to under-14 level before the FA settled on 3v3 for the youngest group.

The coaching work sits with John Folwell, the FA's head of grassroots coach development. Grassroots here means the local club game, played on park pitches and school fields rather than in academies. The FA's message through its FutureFit programme is simple. It calls 3v3 the entry format for under-sevens so players are more involved in play and get the best introduction to football England Football.

That keeps the start small. Under-7, which is Year 2 in school, is now listed as 3v3 in the FA's 2026/27 format overview. Under-8, Year 3, and Under-9, Year 4, remain at 5v5 The FA. For those two older groups, 5v5 is the maximum allowed on matchday.

The kit stays familiar. Under-7s, under-8s and under-9s all use a Size 3 ball, the lightest standard junior ball. Leagues short on space get help too. Up to four 3v3 pitches can be marked out on the area of one 5v5 pitch.

Rules for mini-soccer also allow overhead netting for 3v3, 5v5 and 7v7, as long as the cage stands at least 6m high. It keeps the ball close and the game moving.

What makes this stand out is the noise of it. Three players a side. No one fixed in goal. No queue on the touchline. Everyone has to pass, dribble, shoot and chase back.

For parents new to weekend football, that means smaller squads, quicker games and fewer stoppages to explain. For coaches, it means every child faces the ball and faces a decision. I learned the game in a south London cage that way, commentating to myself until the lights buzzed. Small teams leave you nowhere to hide, and that is often where the love for it starts.