Playground football pitch markings for schools

What are playground football pitch markings?

Playground football pitch markings are thermoplastic lines that set out a small-sided football pitch on a tarmac playground, with touchlines, goal lines, a halfway line, a centre circle and spot, and a penalty area and penalty spot at each end.

The material is heat-bonded to the surface and has a textured, anti-slip finish. Each pitch is one part of our sports court and MUGA line markings, which also cover netball, basketball and tennis.

Our standard football designs measure 30m by 15m and suit PE lessons, after-school clubs and break-time games.

Where there is room we mark to the FA's recommended sizes, and where space is tight we scale the pitch down and tell you at survey which formats will fit.

Which football pitch marking designs do we install?

Uniplay installs six football pitch marking designs, each set out at 30m by 15m: a football-only Football Court, two netball and football combinations, a Basketball / Football Court and two multi courts that add further sports.

If your playground has one usable rectangle, a combined design lets football share it with another sport. With two areas, the Football Court keeps football on its own and leaves the second area free for netball or tennis.

• The Football Court is our 5-a-side pitch, with a boundary line, a halfway line, a centre spot and circle, two penalty areas with penalty spots and an arc in each corner.
• On the Netball/Mini Football Court, yellow netball lines divide the court into thirds and mark the shooting circles, and white football lines add a centre line, a centre spot and goal areas.
• For PE lessons that switch between netball and small-sided football, the Netball / Football Court sets out a full court with white football lines over yellow netball thirds and shooting arcs.
• The Basketball / Football Court keeps football in white and adds red basketball keys, free throw circles and three-point arcs at each end.
• Team games and net games share the Multi Court, which lays a red tennis-style court over a yellow outer court with semicircles at each end.
• Four sports fit on one rectangle with the Multi Court: Netball, Basketball, Tennis, Mini Football, marked in white, yellow, red and blue.

What are the FA's recommended small-sided football pitch sizes?

The FA's recommended small-sided football pitch sizes for 2026/27 are 15m by 10m for 3v3 at under 7, 37m by 27m for 5v5 at under 8 and under 9, and 55m by 37m for 7v7 at under 10 and under 11.

Those age bands are new this season. Under FutureFit, the FA's reform of youth football, 3v3 became the entry format at under 7 and each older format moved a year later, so 9v9 now covers under 12 and under 13 and 11v11 starts in Year 9.

The FA treats every format as a maximum, so a smaller game is allowed at any age.

Our football designs are drawn at 30m by 15m, which makes the FA's 5v5 mini football pitch 7m longer and 12m wider than our standard layout. We set each pitch out within the area you have, and where there is room we mark to the FA size instead.

An FA-size pitch also needs a safety run-off, which the FA puts at a minimum of 3 metres around a grass pitch; on a playground that margin depends on where walls, fences and benches stand.

At 30m by 15m, our layout does sit inside the FA's court range for youth futsal (25m to 42m long and 15m to 25m wide), the hard-court version of five-a-side. Book a free survey and we will measure what your playground can hold.

What lines are marked on a small-sided football pitch?

A small-sided football pitch is marked with touchlines and goal lines around the edge, a halfway line with a centre mark, and a penalty area with a penalty mark at each end; our Football Court adds a centre circle and corner arcs.

The Laws of the Game, quoted in the FA's Rule 38, require every line on a pitch to be the same width and no wider than 12cm (5 inches). Each line also has a job in the FA's mini-soccer rules for 5v5 and 7v7.

• Touchlines and goal lines: the boundary of play. Both count as part of the pitch, so the ball is only out once it has wholly crossed one. In 2026/27 mini-soccer a ball over the touchline restarts with a pass-in or dribble-in, and one over the goal line brings a goal kick or a corner.
• Halfway line and centre mark: kick-offs start from the centre mark, with opponents five yards back in their own half. The halfway line also doubles as the retreat line, so the team without the ball drops into its own half while a goal kick is taken.
• Centre circle: the FA's 5v5 and 7v7 layouts use the centre mark alone, and our Football Court adds a circle around its centre spot.
• Penalty area: the box at each end. A defender's foul inside it gives a penalty, and goal kicks can be taken from anywhere inside it. County FA guidance for referees sets it at 16 yards wide and 9 yards deep (14.63m by 8.22m) for 5v5, and 18 by 10 yards (16.47m by 9.15m) for 7v7. Mini-soccer has no separate six-yard goal area, and some of our designs label this box the goal area.
• Penalty mark: 7 yards (6.40m) from the midpoint between the goalposts on a 5v5 pitch and 8 yards (7.32m) on 7v7. Everyone except the kicker and the goalkeeper waits outside the area, at least 5 yards from the mark.
• Corner arcs: quarter circles in each corner of our Football Court that show where the ball goes down for a corner kick.

How much do playground football pitch markings cost?

Playground football pitch markings cost from around £495 for our 30m by 15m Football Court to about £1,695 for a Multi Court that adds netball, basketball and tennis to mini football, fitted.

These are guide prices that include installation and exclude VAT, and the final figure comes from our survey. Three things move it: the size of the pitch, the number of sports, lines and colours, and the state of the surface.

Each extra sport brings its own set of lines in its own colour, so a combined court costs more than football alone. Adding netball takes the price from £495 to £595 or £749, depending on the design.

A pitch marked out to the FA's 37m by 27m size for 5v5 has no guide price in our range, so we price it from the survey.

The survey, the design and a detailed quote are all free. Request a survey and we will send a scaled plan with your price.

Can football pitch markings go on grass as well as tarmac?

Football pitch markings from Uniplay go on hard surfaces only, meaning tarmac and macadam playgrounds and courts, where the thermoplastic is heat-bonded to the surface; we don't mark grass pitches, which are painted by grounds staff.

A hard court is also what the FA asks for in futsal. Its youth futsal rules say the game needs a hard surface, prefer indoors but accept outdoors, and rule out grass and artificial grass pitches.

The same rules ask for marked lines so the ball can go out of play.

That makes a marked playground a ready-made winter venue. The FA describes futsal as a good way to keep children playing through the winter months, and a tarmac pitch keeps its lines all year round.

What colour should playground football pitch lines be?

Playground football pitch lines are marked in white on our combined Uniplay designs, while the FA's colour guide for marking pitches gives red to 5v5, yellow to 7v7, blue to 9v9 and white to 11v11.

Behind that guide sits one rule, quoted in the FA's Rule 38: where extra pitches are marked on a surface, their lines must be a different colour and clearly distinguishable. Our combined courts work the same way.

The Netball / Football and Netball/Mini Football courts put football in white and netball in yellow, the Basketball / Football Court pairs white football lines with red basketball lines, and the four-sport Multi Court uses white, yellow, red and blue.

White and yellow both read clearly against black tarmac. Your scaled court plan shows the colour of every sport, so your PE lead can check it before we lay a line.

For a coloured playing area, our full-colour surface coatings cover the court surface itself, and the lines go on top.

Can a playground football pitch share space with netball or basketball?

A playground football pitch shares space with netball or basketball by overlaying each sport's lines in a separate colour on one 30m by 15m rectangle, which is how our combined courts and multi-use games area (MUGA) layouts work.

Netball is the easiest partner, because the footprints almost match. World Netball sets a netball court at 30.5m by 15.25m, and the FA's own futsal guidance says futsal fits well on a netball court, inside or out.

Basketball brings more lines. On our Basketball / Football Court the red keys, free throw circles and three-point arcs sit over and around the white football goal areas, so players follow their own game by colour.

At survey we work out where lines can overlap without confusing players, and on a tight site we say honestly which sports fit. Tell us which games you need and we will draw the overlap on your plan.

For three or four sports, see our multi-use games area (MUGA) markings; for single courts, our netball court markings and basketball court markings cover each sport on its own.

How are playground football pitch markings installed?

Playground football pitch markings are installed by our own in-house team in four stages: a survey of the playground, a scaled pitch plan for your PE staff to check, surface preparation, and heat-bonding the thermoplastic lines to the agreed setout.

A single pitch usually goes down in a day, and a full MUGA takes a little longer. Children can play once the lines have cooled, about 30 minutes after laying.

• Survey: we measure the usable area, note the gradient, drainage and any obstacles, and work out which pitch fits and where lines can overlap.
• Plan: you receive a scaled drawing with the colour for each sport marked, so PE staff can check the layout and dimensions before work starts.
• Preparation: we prepare the surface before any line goes down.
• Laying: preformed thermoplastic, cut to shape before it reaches site, forms the fine detail, and larger colour fills are hot-applied by hand. Every line is heat-bonded to the surface.

How long do thermoplastic football pitch markings last?

Preformed thermoplastic football pitch markings carry a warranty of up to four years, subject to the condition of the ground, and we have seen them last for more than 10 years.

Thermoplastic lasts up to 10 times longer than ordinary paint, which on a school pitch means far fewer re-marking jobs and fewer weeks of faded lines.

The ground sets the limit. The lines are heat-bonded to the tarmac, so if the tarmac breaks up, the lines on it go too, which is why the warranty depends on its condition.

When lines do wear, we refresh them on a return visit, and the same visit can extend the pitch if your PE plans grow.

Why choose Uniplay for playground football pitch markings?

At Uniplay we design and install playground football pitch markings with our own in-house team from Blackburn, Lancashire, covering the whole of the UK and Ireland and starting every job with a free survey and a free design.

Our installers are our own staff and are DBS checked as standard. We are a Constructionline Silver Member and a CHAS Accredited Contractor.

Every one of our school football pitch markings has a published guide price, from £495 for the Football Court, and the detailed quote that follows the survey comes with no hidden costs and our price match promise.

We tell you at survey which formats your playground can genuinely hold. Get in touch for a free survey and we will send a scaled plan of the pitch that fits.