In England, each new girls’ team is affiliated individually with your County FA through Club Portal, in the same way as any other youth team, and then enters a league. Before that, you need girls who want to play and a coach who meets the affiliation requirements. England Football offers clubs free support, and your County FA can help with school contacts, workshops and choosing a league. Affiliation and the club’s listing are handled by whoever runs Club Portal for your club, so if that is not you, bring them in early.
This page is for volunteers at an existing club in England. If you are starting a whole new club, begin with our guide to starting a grassroots football club. For girls looking for a team, our girls’ grassroots football guide is the place to start.
This page follows England Football’s pages for clubs on women’s and girls’ football and The FA’s 2026/27 Standard Code of Rules for youth competitions. Programme names, ages and requirements change, so check with England Football and your County FA before you plan around them.
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Finding girls who want to play
A team needs players before it needs a league. England Football’s page on female football at your club (opens in a new tab) gives clubs ways to bring more girls in.
- Schools. England Football suggests building a relationship with a local school and running taster sessions there. Its Play On (opens in a new tab) initiative is designed to help clubs and approved providers move girls from school football into community football: a suggested eight weeks of sessions, the first six at the school and the last two at the club or provider’s site. Clubs can sign up all year round, and your County FA can help you find the school’s contact.
- Running England Football’s programmes for girls. Wildcats (opens in a new tab) is non-competitive football for girls aged 5 to 11, and Squad Girls’ Football (opens in a new tab) is non-competitive football for girls aged 11 to 16. Both pages invite anyone interested in running sessions locally to become a provider, so a club can run sessions itself as well as recruiting into its teams.
Our guide to recruiting players for a grassroots team covers the rest: who to tell, where to advertise and what to say.
Free support for your club
England Football’s Equal Game support is aimed at clubs developing women’s and girls’ football. Its online toolkit covers club vision and values, marketing, the people you need, facilities, finance, and female player health and wellbeing, with a self-assessment and next steps. County FAs run free Equal Game workshops locally, and England Football lists bookings for August 2026 to July 2027. It also publishes a Female Health Hub and a guide on the barriers Muslim girls can face in football. All are linked from its female football at your club (opens in a new tab) page.
For money, our guide to funding and grants explains how to find and assess what is open to your club.
A coach, and your welfare officer
The FA’s 2026/27 affiliation requirements for youth teams include in-date accepted DBS checks and safeguarding training for named youth-team managers and coaches, as our guide to starting a grassroots football club sets out. Club Portal will only let you select teams that meet the required ground, official and qualification requirements, so have your coach in place before you affiliate. Our guide to becoming a grassroots football coach covers the courses and checks.
A youth club needs a Club Welfare Officer, and the new team is part of the club like any other. Tell your welfare officer about it early. Our guide to the club welfare officer explains the role.
Affiliating the team
Affiliation is done each season online through Club Portal, and it is team-based: each team you intend to run is affiliated individually. Your County FA can tell you what is needed for a new team and when. Our guide to player registration, FANs and Club Portal covers registering the players.
Finding a league
Your County FA publishes the leagues in its area and can advise which one suits the team. Leagues then have their own entry process, their own rules and their own deadlines, and there is no national deadline, so ask early. Our guide to how youth football leagues work explains the rest.
Ask whether the league runs girls’ divisions or is a mixed competition. The FA’s Standard Code of Rules for youth competitions (opens in a new tab) for 2026/27 says an all-female team can apply to a competition to play an age group down in a mixed gender competition, provided the team has approval from its Sanctioning Authority. Check the league’s current rules before relying on that option. A girls’ team at its own age group can also be entered in a mixed competition if the league accepts the entry. Ask the league how it handles both before you enter.
Mixed or girls-only
Starting a girls’ team does not take away a girl’s choice. In England, girls can play in mixed teams within the age limits in The FA’s rules, and can move between mixed and girls-only football. Our girls’ grassroots football guide sets out what we found for each UK nation. Some girls at your club may want to stay in their mixed team, and that is their decision.
Letting families find the team
If your club is listed on FindMeFootball, you can claim the listing and add the age groups you run this season, and whether each is boys, girls or mixed. Our guide to claiming your club listing explains how. Families looking for girls’ football can search our girls’ football clubs page by area and age group.
Common questions
How many players do we need?
It depends on the format the age group plays. The FA sets a maximum format for each age group, from 3v3 at Under 7 to 11v11 from Under 14, and smaller formats can still be used. Our England age group rules page sets them out. The FA’s Standard Code also sets a minimum number of registered players per team, by format, before the season starts. Ask the league what it plays, and plan for a squad that covers rotation and absences.
Can girls of different ages play in the same team?
Within limits. The FA’s Standard Code says a child may play up in the age group above their own, and that girls in all-female teams may be permitted to play an age group down under the rule on mixed gender competitions above. The Standard Code also sets limits on age gaps between players in a match. Our guide to playing up an age group explains how that works. Check with the league before you build a squad around it.
Interest is small so far. Is it worth starting?
Start with sessions rather than a team. A Play On block with a local school, or Wildcats or Squad Girls’ sessions, lets girls try football before anyone commits to a season. Your County FA can tell you what already runs near you.
Do we need to set up a separate girls’ club?
No. A girls’ team can be another team within your existing club, affiliated through Club Portal like the others.
Elsewhere in the UK
This page covers England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own affiliation, competitions and girls’ programmes.
- England: your County FA and England Football.
- Scotland: the Scottish FA.
- Wales: the Football Association of Wales.
- Northern Ireland: the Irish FA.