what size are youth soccer goals

Find out what soccer goal size you need. Soccer goal dimensions vary by age group and skill level. It's a great sport for children at any age for learning concepts like teamwork and good sportsmanship. It's important to use the right size youth soccer goal for the benefit and safety of the kids. This post will clear the confusion.

You want to find out what size are the youth soccer goals for your child so that are right for her skill level as well as the enjoyment of the game. This post will help you find out the right dimensions for soccer goals for your child.

Here are the different recommended goal sizes for the different youth soccer age groups.

• AGES 2 and 3.  Kids that are 2 or 3 years old use soccer goals that are sizes 3 x 5 or 4 x 6 ft.
• AGES 4 and 5.  Soccer players that are 4 or 5 years old use goals that are at least 4 x 6 feet, but no bigger than 5 x 10 ft. 
• Ages 6 and 7.  Six and 7 year old children use soccer goals that are either 5 x 10 ft. or 6 x 12 ft. big. 
• AGES 8 TO 11.  Soccer players that are 8, 9, 10, or 11 years old use goals between 6 x 18 and 7 x 21 ft.
• AGES 12 AND OLDER.  Finally, 12 year olds and older players use the regulation 8 x 24 ft. goals.

Why It's Important To Use The Right Size Goal

Does it really matter what size soccer goal your kid play with? Yes! Let's take a deeper dive into why it's important to use the right size goal?

QUALITY OF PLAY. using the right size soccer goal improves the quality of the play. A goal that is too large makes it too easy to score. Goalkeepers and their teammates can get overly discouraged if the apposing team has an abundance of success at scoring goals.

A goal that is too small can be too difficult to score on and kids can get frustrated if they have little or no success at scoring any goals at all.

SAFETY. A soccer goal that is too small could tip over if not properly secured. That could lead to player injuries.

Here's a table of the correct soccer goal sizes for the different age groups of soccer players.

The chart below gives you the quick answer. Read on and you can get a deeper understanding on the right dimensions  of a soccer goal for your child for practices and games.

Let's take a quick dive into answer first by looking at the youth soccer goal chart below. 

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how about portable youth soccer goals

Whether it's your backyard, the grassy area at the public park, or the outfield of the baseball field, you're going to run into situations where you're going to play soccer on a field that doesn't have permanent soccer goals waiting for you to use. You need portable nets that are easy to transport and will hold up to the rigors of young children at play.

You don't have a truck to load them into and you don't want to remove all the seats in your minivan to stow the nets everytime time you want to run a practice or just want to get a little game of 3 v 3 going. Well, you're in luck. There are several foldable goals that will take care of your problem. This video shows you just one of the choices you have.

You can play soccer with a goal of any size, but it makes sense to practice with a goal that's the same size as the size your child will play with on Saturday mornings. As you can see, the specific sizes of soccer goals are made for players of different ages. Most soccer leagues stay with these sizes, so you want to be aware of them when you're looking for a soccer net  for your child.

These are the recommended sizes for soccer nets for each age group of youth soccer and adult players. It's really not a requirement for soccer goals for the really young players to be an exact size. What's most important is that the goals are sized right and are safe. You don't want soccer goals with the wrong dimensions to interfere with the fun and they should be the best size to maximize learning the game of soccer. 

These goal sizes are great for actual soccer games, but you may also be looking for a different size goal that's more appropriate for youth soccer practices. There are situations when you don't necessarily want to use the regulation size goal for your player's age group.

Video on the right size soccer goal for each age group

Here's a video giving you the right soccer goal dimensions for both youth and adult players.

more questions and answers about youth soccer goals

Parents have also asked other questions related to the right dimensions for various age groups of players. Now that you know what size goal is your for your child, it's time to answer related questions about soccer goals for younger players. Here are questions and answers regarding soccer nets.

how to pick The right size goal for your backyard

Use common sense. Your yard layout, the surrounding areas, and your child's age will determine the best size net to get. You can get some ideas by looking at other homes in your area and even talking to your neighbors or others you run into.

You can't set up a big net in an area that barely fits and encourages striking the ball in a direction that will break your neighbor's window or smash into their garden. When my nephew was young my brother in law hung an oversized net and used a small target area within the larger net.

That will minimize the number of shots your child takes and kicks into your neighbors yard.

How to make using a soccer goal more effective

It's a common mistake for young soccer players to shoot the soccer ball directly at the goalkeepers. It's human nature to aim at the center of a target rather then the corners where you're more likely to score a goal if the goalie is centered in front of the net. Use targets  for your soccer net to improve goal scoring. They come in a large variety of styles.

Can you use undersized nets for older players

Yes, smaller youth soccer goals are great for playing games where older players have no goalie in front of the net. This forces defenders to try and prevent all shots toward their own goal. It also helps offensive players develop their skills too.

When you're working on shooting accuracy, or you're playing a variation of a small sided game without goalies, you'll want to use undersized goals. They give the improving player a small target to aim for. There are hundreds of small sided games that will be very effective in improving passing, dribbling, and shooting skills where you want a smaller goal and no goalie.

In my case, when I was a self-motivated 8th grader and just starting to play, I has no budget to buy a soccer net. I made my own net for practicing.  I  hung strings from the garage rafters and literally tied a net by hand, making hundreds of knots. You could make a DIY youth soccer goal, but it is time consuming for sure. It's faster to just buy one and nowadays the prices are reasonable.

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how much do small and large dimension youth soccer goals cost?

You may be asking about the prices of the different sized soccer goals. The price of youth soccer goals varies quite a bit. See the comparison of prices of small versus large goal cost examples below or visit my detailed article on soccer goal cost here.

The smaller the dimensions of the goal, then the less it will cost. The old adage that you get what you pay for is also true for the most part, but a little price shopping can save you a lot of money when you're looking at the different sizes and brands of soccer goals.

small soccer goal cost

As an example I did a quick soccer goal comparison of 3 different vendors of youth soccer equipment. I got the prices for small 4 ft. foldable Pugg nets. You can see the results below at the time of the search.

As an Amazon associate, soccer-for-kids receives a small commission for qualifying purchases. There is no cost to you. Zero!

large soccer goal cost

Goals with bigger width and height dimensions use more materials, including the larger cross bar, posts, and soccer nettings and that makes them cost more. Here's a look at the large and regulation full-size soccer goals you can buy.

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my first soccer goal size

When I was in 8th grade (which is when I first started to play) I was motivated to improve my skills and wanted a net in my own yard so I could get lots of practice in. I literally tied my own net out of cotton string and built a makeshift goal that was about 10 x 6.

If you're just looking for a practice net to set up in your own yard, any size soccer goal is better than none at all. Smaller nets are good for fine tuning accuracy and larger nets are good for improving the strength of your kicks without smashing out your neighbors garage windows. This was in 1974, long before "how to tie your own youth soccer net" videos could be found on Youtube. 

The video below shows a much smarter, although still very time consuming way to tie your own net.

portable youth soccer goals

There's a separate category of soccer nets that are lightweight and convenient to set up in temporary situations. When you need to practice, but you don't have  permanently placed goals on your file, you can use folding or quick set-up goals. Portable soccer goals are generally lighter. Here's why.

You also may be interested in the kind of goals that rebound the soccer ball back to you. These kickwall type of rebounding goals come in different sizes and with different designs Here's the complete post.

how wide are youth soccer goals

This is just a review of the proper dimensions of a youth soccer goal with the focus on what the width of the goal should be for various age groups.

Soccer players that are 3 years old should use a soccer goal that is 3 to 6 feet wide. This makes it easy for them to dribble close to the net and score.

Youth soccer layers that are 4 years old can use a net that is 5 to 10 feet wide, but the preferred size is really closer to the 5 foot width at the most.

what size are beach soccer goals?

Have you ever wondered how big a beach soccer goal is? Goals for beach soccer are only slightly smaller than their full-sized turf counterparts. They are 7.25 feet tall and 18 feet wide. This makes it a little bit easier on a goalie to cover the goal mouth despite the tough task of quick diving saves in the loose sand.

What about the right size ball for your child? Click on any of the soccer balls below to find out the right size ball for each age group of soccer player.

I hope  you found this article helpful. Keep it fun!

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