Five-a-side football is a variation of association football in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper), rather than the usual eleven on each team. Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are played indoors, or outdoors on AstroTurf or artificial grass pitches that may be enclosed within a barrier or "cages", as a result preventing the ball from leaving the playing area and keeping the game flowing.
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Generally the rules for small sided games are much the same as the 11-a-side game with the following additions;
Additionally, metal studded boots or blades cannot be worn, as it damages the playing surface. Players are also required to wear shin pads but this is usually at the discretion of the referee.
Five-a-side is commonly played informally, and the rules are therefore flexible and are sometimes decided immediately before play begins; this is in contrast to futsal, for which official laws are published by FIFA.
The English F.A. have drawn up a full list of laws for the small-sided game which expands upon the rules outlined above and includes minimum/maximum pitch dimensions as well as technicalities on free-kicks and other parts of the game.[1]
Futsal is a version of indoor five-a-side football officially sanctioned by the football world governing body Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Indoor soccer is an indoor game played primarily in North America, typically with six-a-side teams.
Beach Soccer is a variation on five-a-side football in that it is played on a sandy surface. Rules do not greatly differ from those found in regular five-a-side football.
A variation with increased pitch size and number of players on a team. In this variation there are five outfield players and one goalkeeper on the pitch for each team at any one time. Rules do not greatly differ from those found in five-a-side football.
This is another variation with increased pitch and team size; in this case with six outfield players and a goalkeeper on each side. The rules generally do not differ from those of five-a-side.
There are many operators of five-a-side football in the UK, who run and organise small-sided football leagues at outdoor and indoor venues across the United Kingdom.
In recent years a few 5-a-side teams have found themselves with sponsorship deals amounting up to thousand of pounds contracts. Sponsors feel with the vast numbers of participation in 5-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 5-a-side teams around the area.