Pitches, sanction, age groups, entry fees, referees, fixtures, first aid, the day itself and what to do when it goes sideways. Written by someone who's stood at the results desk.
Most grassroots tournaments are run by one volunteer with a spreadsheet, a whistle and a lot of goodwill. This guide is for that person. It walks through the whole job in the order it actually happens, from the first "shall we run one?" to counting the medals at the end, and finishes with a checklist you can print. It's written for England, with a note where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ.
Everything else follows from four decisions, so make them first and write them down.
Age groups. Pick the ones your club can actually host well rather than all of them. In England, from the 2026/27 season (the FA's FutureFit changes), the formats are 3v3 for U7, 5v5 for U8 and U9, 7v7 for U10 and U11, 9v9 for U12 and U13, and 11v11 from U14 up. Mixing 7v7 and 9v9 on the same day means two pitch sizes and two sets of goals, which is fine if you've got them and a headache if you haven't.
Format. The three you'll see everywhere are a straight round robin (everyone plays everyone, most games, simplest), groups followed by knockouts (the classic "cup", exciting finish, more admin) and a festival (games played, no tables published). For the youngest age groups the FA expects the festival approach: results aren't published and there are no league tables, so a "winner" is a trophy for the day at most. Check your County FA's current guidance before you print anything with the word "league" on it.
Team count. Be honest about the ceiling. Eight teams per age group is comfortable on two pitches; twelve needs three pitches or a long day; sixteen needs four pitches and a plan for lunch. Decide the maximum and stick to it, because "we'll squeeze one more in" is how timetables die.
Date. Check it against the league calendar, cup dates, school holidays and anything else big locally. Bank holiday weekends look free but half your teams will be in Cornwall. Give yourself at least eight weeks; twelve is kinder.
The venue decides how many games you can fit in, so book it before you open entries. Ask about pitch count and sizes, goals, parking, toilets, a room or gazebo for the organiser's desk, first-aid access, and whether the club bar or a burger van is coming (it matters more than you'd think for the mood and for the money).
Then do the sum that most first-time organisers skip: how many games do you actually have, and do they fit?
| Teams in a group | Round-robin games | Games per team |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 6 | 3 |
| 5 | 10 | 4 |
| 6 | 15 | 5 |
| 8 | 28 | 7 |
Two groups of six is 30 games. On three pitches, with 12-minute games and a three-minute turnaround, each pitch fits four games an hour, so 30 games is two and a half hours of play before you've added semi-finals, a final, presentations or a single late kick-off. That's a full morning, and it's fine, but you need to know it now rather than at 1pm on the day.
Also check the FA's cap on how long each age group can play in a single day. It rises with age (roughly 40 minutes of play for U7 and U8 up to two hours for older youth). Your timetable has to respect it, and your County FA will ask.
In England, a tournament involving affiliated clubs needs to be sanctioned by your County FA. It isn't a formality you can skip; unsanctioned events can leave players uninsured and clubs in trouble. Apply well ahead of time (several weeks is normal) and expect to be asked for the date, venue, age groups, format, rules, who's refereeing, your first-aid cover and your safeguarding arrangements. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the equivalent route runs through the SFA, FAW or IFA and your regional or district association.
Three things to have in place before you apply:
Start with the teams you already know: your own league, the clubs you play every season, the ones whose managers you've got in your phone. Then post in the league's group and on your club's social pages. A short, specific message works best: the date, the age groups, the format, the price, the venue and how to enter. Vague "save the date" posts get likes and no entries.
Entry fees for junior tournaments in the UK commonly land somewhere between £25 and £60 a team depending on the day's length, the venue and whether medals are included. Decide what's included (medals, a trophy, a programme, a bottle of water) and say so. Take payment at the point of entry rather than "on the day", and write a refund policy in one sentence before anyone asks for a refund. A team that hasn't paid hasn't entered, and telling managers that early saves you a dozen awkward messages later.
Collect the minimum you need per team: team name, club, age group, manager's name, mobile and email, and squad size. You don't need children's details to run a tournament, so don't collect them.
Keep a waiting list from the start. Dropouts are normal; two weeks out you'll be glad of it.
Work out how many games are running at once and get one referee per pitch plus one spare; the spare covers breaks, injuries and the ref who texts at 8am. Ask your league's referee secretary, your County FA's referee development officer, and your older youth players who've done the course. Agree a day rate or a per-game rate up front, pay on the day, and feed them. For the youngest age groups a competent parent with a whistle and the rules on a card is often the expectation rather than a qualified official; check what your sanction requires.
Print each referee a card with their pitch, their games in order, the game length, the rules that differ from a league match (rolling subs, retreat lines, no offside for small-sided, how you're handling draws in knockouts) and where to bring results.
This is the bit that eats the most evenings, and the bit where a proper tool earns its keep. The rules of a good timetable:
Decide how you'll separate teams level on points (goal difference, goals scored, head to head, then a coin toss or penalties) and how you'll settle drawn knockouts (straight to penalties is quickest; extra time isn't worth it at this level). Put both on the rules sheet.
Build the timetable twice: once on paper to check it works, and once in whatever you're going to use on the day. If that's a spreadsheet, print two copies and laminate one. If you want to see the maths and the formats laid out, there's a separate page on football tournament fixture generators and formats.
Send every manager one message with everything in it, and send it again three days before. Include: arrival time (30 minutes before first game), the timetable, the pitch map, parking, the rules sheet, kit clash policy (who changes: the away team in the fixture list is a common rule), what to bring (their own water, balls for warm-up, a first-aid kit of their own), the weather plan, and how results will be published. Give them one phone number for the day and make sure it isn't the referee's.
Inside the club, write the volunteer rota: registration desk (two people for the first hour), results desk, car park (two people until 10am), first aid, the welfare officer, refreshments, medals and photos, and someone floating. Confirm the PA or the loudhailer works. Print more than you think: timetables for every pitch, group tables to fill in by hand, referee cards, a big pitch map, and the incident forms.
Before the teams arrive. Walk the pitches: goals pegged, corners flagged, nets tied, dog mess dealt with, sharp things gone. Set the desk up where managers will naturally walk past it. Put the timetable somewhere big.
Registration. Tick teams in as they arrive, hand over their pitch and first game, and have the manager confirm their mobile is the one you've got. Teams that haven't arrived 15 minutes before their first game get a call, not a wait.
Results. Decide one route for scores to reach the desk (referee brings a card, or a volunteer on each pitch) and stick to it. Update the tables as scores come in, not in a batch, or you'll be 20 minutes behind by 11am and the parents will know before you do.
When it goes wrong. It will, a bit, and that's normal. The three classics: a team doesn't show (record their games as forfeits with a fixed score, 3–0 or similar, and say so on the rules sheet in advance); you're running late (shorten remaining games by two minutes each rather than dropping any, and announce it once, clearly); a pitch becomes unplayable (move that pitch's remaining games onto the others and accept a later finish). An injury stops the game on that pitch, not the tournament; your first aider goes, your welfare officer takes the child's parent or coach to them, and the desk logs it.
Presentations. Do them promptly, keep them short, and get every team's photo whether they won anything or not. Thank the referees by name. Thank the venue.
Publish the final results the same evening while people care. Send a short thank-you to managers with the results link and a line about next year. Pay the referees if you haven't, settle with the venue, reconcile the money (entries in, referees, medals, venue, food out) and write down the number so next year's committee meeting starts from a fact. Then, while it's fresh, write yourself five lines about what you'd change. That note is worth more than this whole guide next year.
Zokko runs the whole day from one screen: fixtures, entries, live scores, referees, first aid and a link parents can follow. It's free while in beta, the guide walks you through it, and I'm an email away when it doesn't.
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