The Quick Read
As the grassroots season winds down and end-of-season celebrations fill clubhouses across the country, the smartest coaches and clubs are already asking the question that separates good from great: what do we do differently next year?
Key Intelligence
30-Second Summary
The final whistles of the 2025/26 season are being blown across grassroots football right now. Trophies are being handed out, players are being celebrated, and the boot bags are nearly ready to go into the loft for a few months. But before the summer break begins properly, there's work to do. The FA's Future Fit framework lands in 2026/27, bringing new formats, new structures, and new expectations for clubs of every size. The coaches and clubs who thrive will be the ones who planned for it during the summer - not the ones scrambling to catch up in September.
The Signal
There's a particular feeling that settles over a grassroots football club at this time of year.
The intensity of a nine-month season begins to lift. Training numbers thin out as the fixtures dry up. Committee members start talking about pre-season. And somewhere in a village hall or a clubhouse kitchen, someone is writing a list of names on a trophy that a child will take home and put on a shelf and never quite forget.
It's a good time. One of the best.
But for coaches and club administrators who want next season to be better than this one, the end-of-season period is something else too: the single most valuable planning window of the year.
The decisions made in May and June - on structures, on rosters, on tools, on processes - shape the eight months that follow. The clubs that arrive at pre-season organised and clear-headed are the ones that hit the ground running in August. The ones that let summer drift by without reflection tend to find themselves solving the same problems in October that they were solving in October last year.
This season, that window matters more than ever.
The Pattern
Grassroots football in England is on the cusp of its most significant structural change in over a decade.
In February 2025, the FA announced the Future Fit framework - a new progressive development pathway for youth football that comes into effect from the 2026/27 season. The changes are substantial, and for clubs with youth teams, the summer of 2026 is the moment to get properly across them.
The headline changes include the introduction of 3v3 as the entry format at U7 level, replacing the current 5v5. The table below shows exactly what format each age group plays before and after the transition - the rows where the format itself changes are where most clubs will need to focus their summer planning.
| Age group | Format until 2025/26 | Format from 2026/27 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| U7 | 5v5 | 3v3 | Yes - new entry format |
| U8 | 5v5 | 5v5 | No |
| U9 | 7v7 | 5v5 | Yes - smaller format for longer |
| U10 | 7v7 | 7v7 | No |
| U11 | 9v9 | 7v7 | Yes - smaller format for longer |
| U12 | 9v9 | 9v9 | No |
| U13 | 11v11 | 9v9 | Yes - 11v11 delayed |
| U14 | 11v11 | 11v11 | No (but ball moves to Size 5) |
| U15+ | 11v11 | 11v11 | No |
The FA's research, conducted alongside Liverpool John Moores University across more than 400 grassroots matches, found that smaller formats drive significantly higher levels of physical activity and technical development - more touches, more time on the ball, more engagement for every child on the pitch.
I was skeptical on 3v3 but you come down here for the first week, you watch it for 10 minutes and you go - oh my goodness, why haven't we done this sooner.
The age-group progression changes too. Each format shifts one year later along the pathway, meaning 11v11 moves from U13s to U14s. Simpler rules throughout primary school age groups give way to more complex laws as players enter secondary education. The ambition is a cleaner, better-aligned journey for every young player.
As the FA's Director of Football Development James Kendall put it: this is about evolution, not revolution. The principles behind smaller formats and maximum playing time for every child aren't new. What the Future Fit framework does is embed them more deliberately, more consistently, and more evidence-backed than ever before.
For clubs, the practical implications will vary. U7 coaches will need to understand the 3v3 model and how matchday organisation changes - squads of 6 to 12 players, multiple games running simultaneously, no substitutes, every child on the pitch for the maximum time possible. Leagues are being asked to adopt early where they can. The Football Foundation will be offering a goal support package to help clubs make the transition.
The key message from the FA is clear: start preparing now. The support infrastructure - workshops, CPD, guidance documents, online resources - is being built specifically to help clubs navigate the changes before they land.
The FA published a full Future Fit online event to walk clubs through the changes in detail. It's worth an hour of any club administrator's time this summer.
tactico has also published a free Club Briefing and a full set of Football Age Group Templates to help clubs prepare - covering formats, pitch sizes, ball sizes, and matchday structure for every age group from U6 to Senior. A dedicated Future Fit FAQs page covers the questions clubs are asking most.
Our approach is about evolution, not revolution - helping to increase the levels of engagement, physical activity, skill development and the volume of technical actions for every player.
The Practice
Whether you're running one team or twenty, the summer break offers a structured opportunity to improve. Here's how to use it well.
1. Run an honest end-of-season review - before everyone disappears
The best time to reflect on a season is when it's fresh. Before the final presentations are done and the group chats go quiet, gather your coaching team - even informally - and ask three questions. What worked well enough that we should protect it next year? What caused unnecessary friction that we could remove? What do we wish we'd done differently in September?
Write the answers down. Not in your head. Somewhere you'll find them in July when pre-season planning starts in earnest.
2. Celebrate properly - then plan around what you learn
End-of-season events aren't just social occasions. They're data. Who shows up? Who brings their parents? Which players are already asking about next season, and which seem uncertain? The energy in the room at a presentation evening tells you a lot about your club's culture and about which players you're retaining. The grassroots clubs that England internationals remember are the ones that made every child feel they belonged - and that work happens in moments like these.
Make a note. Then follow up with the uncertain ones over the summer before they drift somewhere else.
3. Get across the Future Fit changes if you run youth teams
If you have U7s or teams in the younger age groups, the 2026/27 season will look different. Spend time this summer understanding what 3v3 means in practice - the squad sizes, the matchday structure, the role of the pitch facilitator rather than a traditional referee.
tactico's UEFA-qualified Head Coach Greg Hollands breaks down the Future Fit changes over on @thesundayleaguecoach - watch it alongside everything else on this page.
@thesundayleaguecoach The FutureFit changes for 2026/27 explained for grassroots coaches. #FutureFit #grassrootsfootball #footballcoaching
For a complete club-ready breakdown, tactico has published a free downloadable Future Fit Club Briefing covering every age-group format, pitch and goal sizes, ball sizes, matchday structure, and a ready-to-use template for communicating the changes to parents. The Football Age Group Templates are fully updated for every age group from U6 to Senior, and the Future Fit FAQs cover the questions clubs are asking most.
3v3 means maximum opportunities to defend, take a player on, make mistakes - and make them again and again and learn.
4. Review your admin load - and be honest about what's actually working
At the end of every season, the gap between what clubs planned to do and what actually happened becomes visible. Did you get match reports done consistently, or did that fall away by December? Was availability management a constant battle, or did you find a rhythm? Were parents kept informed, or were the WhatsApp messages flying at 11pm on Fridays?
These aren't just admin questions. They're culture and retention questions. Coaches who are overwhelmed by admin don't coach as well. Clubs that communicate poorly lose players and volunteers. The summer is the right time to look at your processes honestly and decide what needs to change before it happens again.
5. Think about your squad before the trials begin
The summer trial season is already starting at some clubs. Before you begin looking at new players, be clear on your picture for next season - what positions you need, what kind of characters will strengthen the group, and which current players are genuinely committed versus those who may not return. Recruiting without that clarity tends to create problems in the autumn.
6. Set two or three goals for next season - not twenty
The most focused coaches we speak to don't arrive at pre-season with a long list of ambitions. They arrive with two or three specific things they want to do better. It might be starting games faster, or reducing the goals conceded in the opening 20 minutes, or simply getting training attendance up. Specific goals create specific preparation. Vague aspirations tend to produce the same season you just had.
The Principle
There's a temptation in grassroots football to treat the end of season as a full stop. Season done. Rest. Start again in August.
The clubs that grow year on year don't see it that way.
They see the summer as the season's most important period - the window where honest reflection, structural planning, and quiet preparation happen without the noise of weekly fixtures. The groundwork for a better September gets laid in June. The problems that recur every October get solved in July.
This coming summer carries extra weight. The Future Fit changes aren't a distant concern - they land at the start of the next season. Clubs that engage now, understand the new framework, and prepare their coaches and their infrastructure will experience September 2026 very differently to clubs that don't.
And beyond the structural changes, there's the perennial question every grassroots club faces at this time of year: are we making it easy enough for the people who run this club to keep doing it?
Volunteer burnout doesn't announce itself loudly. It creeps in - in the coaches who stop enjoying training, in the treasurers who start missing meetings, in the administrators who quietly step back after one season too many of being overwhelmed. Addressing it means reducing the admin load that's quietly killing coaching time, improving the tools, and building processes that work rather than processes that simply exist because that's how it's always been done.
The players have embraced it, they love it - more touches on the ball, more shots, more smiles on faces.
The best grassroots clubs are always asking what they can take away from the experience of running a team - not just what they can add. The summer is when that work gets done.
Your Move This Week
Before the season fully closes, pick one thing that genuinely frustrated you this year - one recurring problem that cost you time, caused avoidable stress, or got in the way of your coaching.
Write it down. Then write one specific change that would fix it or significantly reduce it next season.
That's your first pre-season goal. Everything else builds from there.
The Bottom Line
The trophies are being handed out.
The boots are going in the bag.
The season that was is almost behind you.
But the season that will be is already taking shape - in the planning you do or don't do over the next few weeks.
Celebrate everything this season gave you. Honour the players who showed up, the volunteers who made it happen, and the coaches who gave more of themselves than anyone asked.
Then get to work on making the next one better.
The game doesn't stand still. Neither should the clubs that love it.
Get your club ready for Future Fit 2026/27
Three free, club-ready resources to support every step of the transition - written for grassroots coaches, committees and volunteers.
Download Future Fit Club Briefing Every age-group format, pitch and goal size, ball size, matchday structure - and a ready-to-use template for parent communications. Read the briefing → Read Future Fit FAQs The questions clubs, coaches and parents are asking most about Future Fit - organised by topic. Browse the FAQs → Customise Football Age Group Templates Match formats, pitch and ball sizes, laws and player development focus for every age group from U6 to Senior - editable Word and Google Docs. Browse the templates →tactico. The game, uncompromised.
Sources & Context
1. Primary: England Football (February 2025). "FutureFit - updates to grassroots youth football in England."
2. Primary: England Football. "Future Fit: Digital Content Hub."
3. Data: Liverpool John Moores University / FA Research (2025). Study of 400+ grassroots matches from U6-U14 level.
4. Supporting: England Football FAQs. "Youth Football is changing from the 2026/27 season."
5. Resource: tactico. "Future Fit Club Briefing 2026/27."
6. Resource: tactico. "Football Age Group Templates - U6 to Senior."
7. Resource: tactico. "Future Fit FAQs."
First published: 7 May 2026