Youth Soccer Fields Explained

In youth soccer different age groups play on different size fields.  The fields are classified by the amount of players expected to be on the field during a game, e.g. 7v7, 9v9 etc...   

The field breakdown is as follows

U6/U8/U10 play on a 7v7 field.   

U12 plays on a 9v9 field.

U14 /U16 play on an 11v11 field (aka full-sized field)  .  

Sometimes, if enrollment is low, a league may decide to play with less players on the field, and when this happens they'll usually switch to a smaller field.  For example, in the 2022 season all U14 teams played on a 7v7 field. 

The picture below shows all of the components of a youth soccer field.  Each component is described below

Goal Line
These are the lines that mark the end of the field on the side where the Goals are located (i.e. the short side of the field)

Touchline (aka Touch Line)
These are the lines that mark the end of the field on the long sides.  These are equivalent to the boundary lines (aka out-of-bounds line) in football.  

Goal Box (aka Goal Area)
This is the area immediately in front of the goal.  When a goal keeper is doing a Goal Kick the ball must be placed inside this area. Typically it's placed at the corner of the area.

Penalty Box (aka Penalty Area) 
This is the area immediately outside of the Goal Box.   A goal keeper can only take possession of the ball (i.e. pick it up with his/her hands) inside this box. When a keeper is putting a ball back in play (i.e. kicking or throwing it out into the field) they will typically go right to the end of this area before doing so.  There are also special rules for penalty and free kicks if the infraction occurs inside the Penalty Box area.

Corner Arc
These are located at each corner of the field, and there is also a flag here.  On a Corner Kick,  the ball must be placed inside this area

Penalty Mark
This is located inside the Penalty Box, in front of the goal.   Penalty Kicks need to be taken from this location. 

Penalty Arc
This is an arc at the outside of the penalty box that is centered around the penalty mark.  Players must remain outside of the Penalty Arc (and the rest of the penalty box) on Penalty Kicks 

Build-Out Area
This area is the portion of the field between the Goal Line and Build-Out line.  This area is  only applicable to the  7v7 sized fields (i.e. U8 and U10).  The other field sizes do not have a Built-Out area. For this division,  when the goal keeper has a ball and is putting it back into play, the opposing team must leave  this area.   This occurs for goal kicks and after the goal keeper takes possession.   However, the goal keeper has the option of returning the ball into play before the opposing team has left the area.    

Build-Out Line (aka Offside line)
This line marks the start of the build-out area.  It is often drawn as a dashed line or as a different color.  It's equal distant between the Halfway line and the outside of the Penalty Box.   This line is also only applicable to the  7v7 sized fields (i.e. U8 and U10).  For this field size only, Offsides penalties cannot be called if the attacking players are outside of this area.  

Center Circle
This is the circle a the center of the field.  During kickoffs ,the team that is not kicking off must remain outside of this circle (and also remain on their side of the field). 

Center Mark
This is a small mark at the center of the field.  The ball is placed here on kickoffs. 

Halfway Line
This is the line at the center of the field.  During kickoffs players have to remain on their side of the Halfway line. 
For 9v9 & 11v11 , Offsides penalties can not be called if an attacking player is on their side of the Halfway line. 

Field Dimensions
It may surprise you to learn that the overall size of soccer fields are not set at a fixed value, they instead specify ranges. 😱  Triboro plays in the Northeast Freedom Youth Soccer league (NFYSL), and that league is a division of Soccer Association for Youth (SAY).  SAY sets all the rules and standards that we play by.  The SAY specifications give certain dimensions within the field, but the overall width and length have allowed ranges, which can vary quite a bit. 

If you're a coach that needs to help paint the fields or you'd just like to paint one in your backyard,  I created some field diagrams to help out.  They  show all the official sizes dictated by the 2022 SAY PlayingLaws Rule Book.  There are both color and black&white versions (which are easier to print).   

See links below!

Soccer field - 7v7 - u8-10 - bw.pdf
Soccer field - 7v7 - u8-10 - color.pdf

Soccer field - 9v9 - u12 - bw.pdf
Soccer field - 9v9 - u12 - color.pdf

Soccer field - 11v11 - bw.pdf
Soccer field - 11v11 - color.pdf

That's all Folks.  
If you've read all of the descriptions above, you now understand everything you need to know about youth soccer fields.    


Patrick Nee
[email protected]