Player's Guide to England Football Open Age (16+) Sunday League 2026/27

Under the FA Standard Code of Rules for open age football:

Two clubs in one league: not allowed. It's a breach of the rules to play for more than one club in the same league in a season without first being transferred, or to register for a second club in the league except to transfer. If you're registered with two clubs, the first valid registration counts.

Transferring mid-season:

1. Your new club submits a transfer notification to the league through The FA's Player Registration System (a fee may apply).
2. The league tells your current club, which has 3 days to object in writing.
3. If it agrees, or doesn't object in time, the league can approve the transfer and you can play for the new club from the date your league's rules set.
4. If it objects, the league's management committee decides.

Other limits:

• Leagues set a date after which no new registrations or transfers are allowed without special permission.
• If your club cancels your registration, you can't re-register in that league for a period set in its rules.
• Players moving from Wales, Scotland, Ireland or abroad may need an International Transfer Certificate.

Under the FA Standard Code of Rules for open age football (FA Handbook 2026-27):

• Open age football: you must be at least 16 to play.
• Mixed (men and women) adult competitions: you must be 18 or over. Players under 18 aren't allowed, and the league must refuse their registration.

Leagues involving players still in full-time secondary education must give priority to school football, although Sunday leagues don't need head teachers to clear players' availability.

A league can't fine anyone under 18 for breaking its rules.

Under the FA Standard Code of Rules (which every sanctioned adult league's rules must follow), a club that plays an ineligible player (for example unregistered, suspended or registered with another club in the league) in a match where points are awarded:

• has the points gained from that match deducted, up to a maximum of 12 points, and
• is fined under the league's fines tariff.

The league's management committee can also:

• award the match points to the opponents
• deduct up to 3 further points
• order the match to be replayed

The points deduction can only be varied where the problem was a missing International Transfer Certificate or the player's status.

You are also ineligible if you weren't named to the referee before kick-off within the deadline in your league's rules. Separately, playing while suspended is misconduct, and the County FA can charge you personally.

Under the FA Standard Code of Rules for open age football (FA Handbook 2026-27):

• Length: 90 minutes, unless both clubs agree a shorter time with the referee before kick-off. It can't be less than 60 minutes and must be two equal halves.
• Half-time: set by the league, but no more than 15 minutes, and only changed with the referee's consent.
• Two matches between the same teams on one day are allowed if the total playing time is no more than 120 minutes.
• Minimum players: a team needs at least 7 players for a match. Starting with fewer breaks the rules and leads to a fine.
• Substitutes: your league chooses how many (between 3 and 7) can be named and used, and whether players who've been substituted can come back on.
• Every match is played under the IFAB Laws of the Game, with no overhead netting allowed on 11v11 pitches.

Sin bins (temporary dismissals) are mandatory in English grassroots football up to Step 5 of the National League System (and Tier 3 and below in women's football), which includes Sunday leagues.

• Only for dissent, by word or action. A caution for dissent must go through the sin bin; other cautions are normal yellow cards.
• The referee shows a yellow card and points to the touchline. You leave the pitch for 10 minutes (8 minutes in youth football).
• You can't be replaced while in the sin bin. Once the time is up you can come back on at a stoppage, or a substitute can replace you if your team has substitutions left.
• You can only be sin binned if it's your first yellow card. A second yellow card in the match means a red card.
• If you commit another offence while in the sin bin, you get another yellow (or a red) and can't return or be replaced, so your team plays a player short.
• If sin bins leave a team with fewer than 7 players, the match is abandoned.
• A sin bin counts as a caution towards your season total and carries the normal caution processing fee (£12).

Cautions in Sunday football build up over the season (sin bins count as cautions). Under the FA Handbook 2026-27, Table 7:

• The ban is served in Sunday football only (the category where the cautions were collected).
• If you reach a total after its cut-off date, that ban doesn't apply. For example, a 5th caution in January doesn't trigger a ban.
• At 20 cautions you must attend a Disciplinary Commission within 7 days of the last caution. It can deal with you as it sees fit and can ban you from all football. The same happens for every 5 more cautions that season.
• Each caution also carries a £12 processing fee.

Automatic suspensions for a sending-off in grassroots Sunday football (FA Handbook 2026-27, Table 8):

• The ban applies to Sunday football (the category where you were sent off), plus the FA Cup and FA Vase.
• Repeat red cards: for each earlier sending-off in the same season, you get 1 extra match on top of the standard ban.
• A £15 processing fee also applies to each sending-off.
• In truly exceptional cases of serious foul play, violent conduct or spitting, the County FA can ask a Disciplinary Commission for a longer ban.

Abuse or violence towards the referee is dealt with separately by a misconduct charge, with much longer time-based bans.

Start date: an automatic suspension (from a red card or from building up cautions) starts on the 7th day after the offence (or after the last caution), whether or not your club has received the paperwork.

How it is served: a match-based ban is complete once your team has played the required number of matches in the category where it applies (for Sunday football cautions, Sunday football). Matches arranged just to help you serve a ban can be discounted.

While suspended you cannot:

• play in matches in the football category the ban applies to
• act as a match official

A suspension that comes from a misconduct charge is from all football and football-related activity unless the Disciplinary Commission says otherwise.

Other points:

• Two bans starting together, or overlapping, run one after the other.
• Matches still owed at the end of the season are served at the start of next season.
• If you move to another grassroots club at the same level, you serve the rest of the ban with your new club's matches.

The County FA invoices you through your club. Your club collects the money from you and pays it.

Processing fee for each card notification:

• £12 per caution (including a sin bin)
• £15 per sending-off

Fines on top, for grassroots Sunday football:

Paying late: fines and costs are due within 14 days of the invoice. After that a £10 late-payment fee is added, payable within 7 days. If both aren't paid by then, you and your team are suspended until it's paid in full.

Your league can also fine clubs for breaking its own rules (up to £250 per breach in most grassroots leagues), but nobody under 18 can be fined by the league.

Yes, through your club secretary to the County FA. Both claims are decided by a Disciplinary Commission on video and written evidence only (nobody attends), and there is no appeal against the outcome.

Wrongful dismissal (red cards)

• You must show the referee made an obvious error.
• Not available for a red card for a second caution, or for offensive, insulting or abusive language and/or gestures.
• Notify the County FA of your intention by 5pm on the 2nd business day after the match, and send the claim, evidence (including video if there is any) and fee by 5pm on the 4th business day.
• If you win, the automatic suspension is withdrawn and the fee returned, but the sending-off stays on your and the club's record.

Mistaken identity (yellow or red cards)

• Send written details naming the player who actually committed the offence, any evidence and the fee by 5pm on the 3rd business day after the match.
• If proven, the offence moves to the correct player.

Fee: £30 outside the National League System (£50 at Steps 5-6).

The County FA can also, in truly exceptional cases, ask for a longer ban than the standard one for serious foul play, violent conduct or spitting.

The County FA investigates the referee's report, can charge you and can suspend you from all football straight away (an interim suspension) until the case is heard, normally within 28 days. If proven, a Disciplinary Commission must impose a suspension from all football activity within these ranges (the bottom of the range is the standard minimum):

• An assault causing serious injury carries a minimum of 10 years.
• Fines: £100-£200 for threatening behaviour; £150-£250 for physical or attempted physical contact.
• You must also complete an education programme.
• Days can be added if the ban falls in the close season.

Threatening includes words implying physical harm, raising hands to intimidate, or pretending to throw or kick something at the official.

A County FA can charge you for an incident whether or not the referee dealt with it on the day. Each charge costs a £15 administration fee, paid through your club. A suspension that comes from a charge is from all football unless the commission says otherwise.

Fast track offers. For some grassroots cases the County FA offers a set sanction before charging you. It must be issued by 6pm on the 2nd business day after the referee's report; you have until 6pm on the 5th business day after it is issued to accept, and it starts on the 6th business day. If you decline and are later charged, a second offer comes with the charge. Offers are normally lower than what a commission would impose if you deny the charge and it is proven.

Hearings. You have the right to a personal hearing if you ask for one, normally with at least 14 days' notice (7 days in some urgent cases). If you deny the charge, the referee may be asked to attend. The charge must normally be heard within 90 days of the first report.

Appeals go to an Appeal Board:

• Notify your intention to appeal within 7 days of the decision
• Submit the appeal within 14 days
• Grounds: you didn't get a fair hearing, the rules were misapplied, no reasonable commission could have reached the decision, or the penalty was excessive
• An appeal is a review of the papers, not a rehearing, though you can make oral submissions

If you or your club ignore a request for information, you get a warning and 7 more days; after that you and the team are suspended from all football from the following Monday.

Yes. Under the FA Handbook 2026-27 disciplinary regulations for grassroots (Category 5) football, the County FA tracks each team's record.

Six or more players booked or sent off in one match (clubs outside the National League System):

• 1st time in a season: the club is charged and warned
• 2nd time: automatic £25 fine
• Each time after that: the fine goes up by £25

Penalty points build up across the season, for example:

• 25 points: warning to the club
• 50 points: £75 fine
• 100 points: the club is charged and can face a fine, an action plan, or suspension or loss of its affiliation or England Football Accredited status

A club can also be charged if a team has 4 proven violent conduct offences, or 2 proven physical offences against match officials, within 12 months.