By Keith Rogers · Naples, Florida · 2026
Five-a-side soccer didn't always look like this. Before the late 1980s, if you wanted to play recreational soccer in the UK you booked a multipurpose sports hall, squeezed in between the basketball players, and chased a ball around on a wooden floor with lines painted for every sport imaginable. There were no dedicated facilities, no organised leagues worth speaking of, and no serious investment in the recreational game.
That changed when the first purpose-built five-a-side center opened in Paisley, Scotland in 1987. Within a decade, the format had grown from a niche activity into a mainstream leisure industry. By 2014 the Football Association reported that five-a-side participation in the UK had overtaken eleven-a-side football — the national sport — and was growing at twice the rate. Today it is the dominant form of soccer participation in Britain, with purpose-built facilities in every major city and tens of thousands of organised leagues running every week.
That transformation didn't happen by accident. It happened because entrepreneurs invested in quality facilities, took the game seriously as a business, and made it accessible to a demographic that had stopped playing — or never started. The lesson was simple: give people a great experience and they will come back every week for years.
Five-a-side is a game you can enter at five years old, because of the size of the pitch — and if you want to, and are good enough, graduate to the eleven-a-side game. But there are also people who play eleven-a-side and use five-a-side as training. And then there are people who are 30 and upwards who drop back down to play five-a-side. There is a movement between the two games.
The United States today presents the most compelling small-sided soccer opportunity in the world — and it mirrors the UK at the very beginning of its five-a-side revolution.
Soccer is already the most popular youth participation sport in America. In Californian schools, soccer has been one of the most popular participation sports for close to a decade. Millions of children grow up playing the game at school and in youth leagues. But when those players leave high school, there is almost nowhere for them to go. Unlike the UK, where decades of investment have created a dense network of all-weather pitches and dedicated small-sided facilities, the US has almost no infrastructure for the adult recreational game.
In a city like Los Angeles, with 18 million people, finding a local park to play on is close to impossible — the city is built up to an incredible degree. After the kids leave high school there are also other sports — baseball, American football and basketball — competing for their time. The infrastructure gap for soccer is enormous. The demand is there. The participation base is there. The passion for the game is growing faster than at any point in American history. What is missing is the supply.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup — hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico — is the single biggest catalyst the American soccer market has ever seen. The tournament will bring the world's game to American soil on an unprecedented scale, driving participation, investment and public interest to new heights.
Every major World Cup has left a legacy of increased participation in its host nation. The 1994 World Cup in the US directly contributed to the founding of Major League Soccer. The 2026 tournament arrives at a moment when American soccer is already growing rapidly — MLS attendances are rising, the USMNT is developing genuine world-class talent, and the cultural conversation around soccer has shifted permanently.
For small-sided soccer specifically, the timing could not be better. The generation of young Americans who grew up playing the game is now in their 20s and 30s — exactly the demographic that drives five-a-side participation. They want to play. They just need somewhere to play.
The small-sided soccer market in the US is not a niche opportunity. It is a national one. The model is well understood — the UK proved it over 35 years. The demand in the US is at least as large. The infrastructure gap is substantially wider. And the 2026 World Cup provides a market catalyst unlike anything the UK ever had.
The small-sided soccer revolution that started on four tennis courts in Paisley in 1987 is coming to America. I have spent 35 years learning exactly what it takes. The opportunity is substantial.