Girls' football in England has three layers. There are low-pressure sessions for girls who are new to the game: Wildcats for ages 5 to 11 and Squad for ages 11 to 16. There are club teams that play in leagues, either girls-only or mixed with boys, all the way up to Under-18. And above both sits the FA's talent pathway, which most girls never need to think about.
There is football for girls at every age from five, and a girl can start at any of those points. She does not need to have played before, she does not need to begin at five, and she does not need to choose between girls' and mixed football for good.
What Age Can Girls Start Playing Football?
Girls can start organised football from about five. That is the starting age for Wildcats, and some grassroots clubs run mixed sessions for four and five-year-olds before their first age group begins.
Team football with weekly matches starts at Under-7. From the 2026/27 season, that first year is played as 3v3 under the FA's FutureFit changes, which apply to girls' and mixed football alike. Our guide to the new FA youth football format sets out every age band.
The more useful answer is that there is no age at which it becomes too late to start playing. Many girls start later than boys, so a girls' Under-12 or Under-13 team often has players in their first season training alongside girls who have played since Wildcats.
Wildcats: Girls' Football for Ages 5 to 11
Wildcats is England Football's programme of girls-only sessions for ages 5 to 11. Sessions are non-competitive, led by FA-trained coaches and volunteers, and aimed at girls trying football for the first time or wanting to play with other girls their age.
The FA launched it in 2017 with 200 centres in its first year and added another 772 in 2018. Centres are run by local providers: grassroots clubs, professional club foundations, schools and leisure centres.
What parents tend to find:
- It is a session, not a team. There are no league fixtures, no selection and no results table. A girl turns up, plays games with other girls and goes home.
- It is often a club's front door. Many Wildcats centres are run by a club that also has girls' teams, so a girl who enjoys a term or two of Wildcats can often move into that club's age-group team when she is ready.
- Ages 5 to 11 means mixed ability. A six-year-old and a ten-year-old may be in the same session, usually split into groups, so ask how the centre groups girls before her first visit.
Bookings go through England Football's find a session tool, searchable by postcode.
Take her to watch a local women's team, whether that's professional or your local Sunday league, or stream matches online if getting there isn't possible.
Squad Girls' Football for Ages 11 to 16
Squad Girls' Football is the teenage version: informal, non-competitive sessions for girls aged 11 to 16, usually about an hour long with 15 to 20 girls. There is no commitment, so girls can come to as many or as few sessions as they like.
England Football launched Squad in August 2022, weeks after the Lionesses won the Euros. It is aimed at the teenage girl who wants to play but feels too far behind to join a team, which is a common feeling at 12 or 13 when girls in a club side may have played for six years. A session where nobody is being picked or watched takes that pressure away.
Two things to know:
- Squad is not a trial for a team. It is football for its own sake. A girl who wants matches will need a club team as well, and a Squad coach is usually a good person to ask which local clubs have space.
- The age range overlaps with Wildcats at 11. An 11-year-old can go to either. A girl in Year 7 will often feel more comfortable in Squad with girls her own school age.
Girls' Football Age Groups and Formats
Club teams are where league football happens. Your daughter's age group is set by her age on 31 August at the start of the season, so it matches her school year: a girl in Year 5 plays Under-10.
Under FutureFit, from 2026/27 the formats are:
- Under-7: 3v3
- Under-8 and Under-9: 5v5
- Under-10 and Under-11: 7v7
- Under-12 and Under-13: 9v9
- Under-14 upwards: 11v11
Most girls' teams follow the same formats as boys' and mixed teams. The practical difference is numbers. A club may have one girls' team covering two school years at Under-9 or Under-10, because there are not yet enough girls for a team in each year, and that team usually plays in the older girls' age group.
Playing one year up is generally allowed, but playing two years up or down is restricted for younger players. If a coach suggests moving your daughter up, our guide on playing up an age group covers what to weigh.
Teams also fold and merge. Many girls' teams lose players in the early teens, when school, friendships and other sports pull harder. If her team is short, ask the club early whether it plans to merge with the year above or below, rather than finding out in August.
Girls' Teams or Mixed Teams?
Girls can play in mixed teams with and against boys right up to Under-18. The FA raised the mixed football age limit from Under-16 to Under-18 for the 2015/16 season, and it has stayed there since.
So the choice is about what suits her, and it can change more than once. Common patterns:
- A girl joins her friends' team. At Under-7 to Under-10, most grassroots teams are open to girls, and if her school friends are boys, she may start in their team.
- She moves to girls' football around Under-11 or Under-12. Common reasons are wanting to play with other girls as boys' teams get more physical, or being the only girl and missing that side of team life.
- She stays in a mixed team. Plenty of girls stay throughout and are happy there, especially in a good team with a coach who treats every player the same.
Being in a boys' team is not required to get noticed by the talent pathway, and neither is leaving one. Emerging Talent Centres recruit from girls' and mixed teams.
Some leagues also allow an all-girls team to enter a mixed league one age group down, with approval from the league and county FA. That is a team decision made by the club, not something an individual girl can request.
Trust the process. Track the progress.
Track their goals and assists, log their progress and keep coach feedback in one place, season after season.
Girls' Football Leagues
Most girls' teams play in a girls' league run at county level, such as the Berkshire County Girls Football League, or in a girls' division of a larger youth league. Your County FA's women and girls page lists the leagues in its area.
What is different from boys' football:
- Travel is usually further. There are fewer girls' teams, so a league can cover a whole county. At Under-12, an away game can mean 40 minutes in the car, where a boys' team in a busy area might rarely leave its town.
- Match day may not match the boys. Some girls' leagues play on Saturdays and others on Sundays, so check before you assume your daughter and her brother can share a morning.
- Results are not published at the youngest ages. As in boys' football, there are no league tables at Under-7 to Under-11.
Girls can usually move into adult women's football from 16 (Hertfordshire FA, for example, runs open-age women's football from that age), and many clubs with girls' sections also run a women's team that older girls train with.
Where the Talent Pathway Fits In
Above grassroots, the FA's women's talent pathway runs through Emerging Talent Centres, which recruit from around age 8, and Professional Game Academies at professional women's clubs for older teenagers, from about 14. Regional Talent Clubs were the old name for the ETC stage and no longer exist.
An ETC girl usually still plays for her grassroots club as well, so the pathway sits alongside a girls' team rather than replacing it. Most girls who play football never go into it, and that is the normal picture. Our guide to how girls' football academies work explains each stage and what each one asks of a family.
Choosing a Girls' Football Club
For a first club, the things that matter tend to be practical: whether there is a team in her age group with space, how far the training ground is, what night it trains, and whether the club has any other girls her age.
A few checks worth making:
- Ask how many girls are in her age group. A team with nine girls on its list can struggle to field a side; a squad of fourteen means more girls sharing the minutes.
- Ask whether the club has girls' teams in older age groups. A club with teams from Under-9 to Under-16 is more likely to still have a team for her in three years.
- Ask if she can try a session first. Most grassroots clubs will happily let a new player train before registering.
Cost, transport and parents' work hours can make it hard to get to sessions, and having more venue options closer to where girls actually live would go a long way toward cutting down that travel burden.
Confidence is often the real barrier underneath the practical ones, as some girls feel self-conscious about starting something new or don't have anyone in their family or community who plays.
Our comparison of girls' academy and grassroots football goes further into how to judge a club's environment once she is settled.
Safeguarding and Parent Checks
Every club and Wildcats or Squad provider should be able to answer these without hesitation:
- Who is the club's welfare officer, and how do I contact them? Every club with youth teams must have one.
- Are the coaches DBS checked and FA-trained? Anyone coaching under-18s at an affiliated club needs an enhanced DBS check.
- How do coaches communicate with players? For younger girls, messages should go through parents or a team group that parents are in, never private messages to the girl.
- What is the photo and social media policy? Girls' teams in particular should explain how match photos are used and how to opt out.
- Are female staff or volunteers present? For changing, injuries and away travel, many girls' teams make sure a female adult is always there.
If you have a concern, raise it with the club welfare officer or your County FA. England Football's safeguarding pages explain how to report one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Wildcats football free?
Some centres are free, and many charge a few pounds a session or a termly fee. The price is set by the club, school or foundation running the centre, so check that centre's booking page rather than assuming one national price.
Can she go to Wildcats and play for a team at the same time?
Yes. Wildcats is open to any girl aged 5 to 11, whether or not she is registered with a club, and some girls keep going to sessions after joining a team for the extra football with other girls.
Can girls play two years up?
Usually not below Under-15. FA youth rules do not allow a player under 15 to play in a match where any other player is two or more years older or younger, and many leagues are stricter, allowing one year up only. Check the league's own rules before agreeing to a move.
What is football for girls called?
It is just football. Adult football is often called women's football, and older club names sometimes use "ladies", but the game and laws are the same.
