r/SoccerNoobs

Hello football fans!

I am a Masters student studying Sports Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. My dissertation looks into the morals, motivations and ability of those who choose to pirate live football.

As a football fan myself, I agree the rising prices of football subscriptions is concerning and becoming unaffordable. I am also intrigued by the normalisation of piracy websites and 'dodgy' firesticks amongst fans and would like to understand the motivations and morals behind these choices and the role technical ability plays. All responses will be anonymised and is STRICTLY for research purposes only.

If you are interested in taking part, please click the link below. Here you will also find the participant information sheet and consent form to read. The survey should take around 5 minutes.

Thank you.

https://shusls.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6QEiVHUOJfPmu9w

I’m a casual football watcher and recently got more into football because of the World Cup. I really like Real Madrid since I’m a Ronaldo fan, but I’m also interested in Man City. I know they’ve played each other a lot in the Champions League, and I’ve seen a lot of people on the internet (especially TikTok which isn’t a very reliable source) say that you can’t support both. Is that actually a thing?

I want to develop my weak foot and ball control because I don’t want be the weakest link on my soccer team but I don’t know how to do it efficiently. Any tips/ drills would be greatly appreciated!

I’m 17 years old and have rarely played football in my life, although I used to play at an academy when I was 12. During school, I didn’t participate in any sports activities, but I also had the chance to play at a small academy when I was 15, mainly for fun.

I’ve been thinking about playing football again over the last few days because I have a lot of free time, and I’d also like to meet new people and make friends. However, whenever I think about going to try out at a new academy, I get nervous about making mistakes and feeling socially awkward.

I’m in pretty good shape, and the academy I’m interested in has players between 13 and 18 years old. However, I’m worried that I won’t feel welcomed because everyone might already have their own groups, and I’m not very confident socially.

Hello, I'm 20M, and I wanna get into playing football, I have always liked the game but never got the chance to play in clubs as a kid (I was very sickly), so I always was the unathletic kid at school and one of the worst players in my class, and my feet felt like they didn't move well together, after highschool I basically stopped playing, recently I got to know some ppl that play matches from time to time, they always invite but I always refuse to not disappoint my team, Now that I got some free time, I wanna improve, I don't wanna be the best player, I wanna be just a reliable player, that can pass well, keep the ball, dribble a little and shoot well, Is it too late? If not, how to start, since most clubs in my city accept kids only, and adults are generally above my level.

I’ve been watching football since maybe 2011ish? For context I’m in my early 20’s. I had the terrible reputation of being a glory hunter as a kid. I was swapping teams ALL the time. Funny considering my grandad and dad were loyal Madrid fans. However, at the time we didn’t have a local team (I live in the US) fast forward to today and now we do.

The catch is that in that span of time I eventually chose Manchester United in the dying embers of Alex Ferguson’s time there. I loved the colors, Rooney, watching young Ronaldo highlights. And basically supported the team half my life. I’ve experienced Van Gaal, Amorim, and Solksjaer. Saw us lose to Liverpool 7-0. Gotta tell you, I don’t live in Manchester but man do I love the club.

I guess my conflict is that now I have a local mls team, I’ve gone to a match already and it was great. But I also know how much the football community expects fans to always choose their local team. I didn’t have one as a kid. Now I love two teams?

In professional play, it seems that every time the ref blows the whistle, some player is throwing their hands up and talking to the ref as if their call was impossibly wrong. If I was coaching any youth sport and the players acted like that I'd sit them down.

Do these people think that their whining and moaning will actually change something? Do they think they're entitled to a justification? Are the refs allowed to tell them to back off because they're complaining like petulant entitled children?

Can someone explain to me why Ferran Torres decided to ride the bench for PSG instead of staying with Barca? Wasn’t he lined up to be a starter since Lewandowski left ?

Hi i really need drills to help with my ball mastery, shooting and dribbling. I am in the football club but always stuck playing defense. Highly appreciated if i could get sum tips and drills

Ans: If you got into football because of the World Cup and now want to explore club football, don’t try to follow every league at once.

Start with the Premier League. It’s one of the easiest leagues for a new fan to get into, with big clubs, intense rivalries and matches every week

As the title says I'm the team mom for my son's soccer team of 15 kids. Each one needs a shirt with their own name and number on the back. I thought it would be simple.

Then I started pricing it out. Custom shirts from local print shops are expensive. Like, really expensive. The team budget is tiny. We can't afford $30 per shirt.

I found DTF Transfers now and they have gang sheets where you can cram all the designs onto one sheet. All 15 names and numbers in one place. Way cheaper than ordering each one individually.

But now I'm panicking. The file requirements are intimidating. CMYK, 300 DPI, transparent background. I have no idea what half of that means. I'm a mom, not a graphic designer.

I've got the names and numbers. I've got a basic idea of how I want it to look. But I don't know how to set up the files properly.

But is it actually possible for a rookie to do without getting a massive headache?

Well.. I’m optimistic that I will be able to sort this out, but it would be helpful if I had some assistance. Has anyone tried this before? What advice do you have for a rookie?

Hello everyone. I've never joined a team sport and I'm going into gr 11 but I've always wanted to try but never had the confidence or believed I had the skill to. I want to try out for the soccer team this year cus I love watching, love joining pick up games and playing in general, pretty quick and think I'm pretty strong for my build. I'm around 5 8 135 (ik I'm on the lighter side but I'm.working on leaning down then going on a clean bulk) I'm going to a new skl with around 1k to 1.5k ppl but the school is more catered towards arts and academics. I'd also like to consider track or whatever else there is that requires not too much expoerence but im not sure cus my accelerations pretty good and top speed r pretty good for untrained but my stamina could use some work. Any advice or anything? I don't mind the harsh words or brutal truth. Thanks for reading

I am 13. and I recently saw the 2026 world cup. And I thought to myself.

"Maybe I could try football." I am slowly planning when summer vacation ends. but my parents disagree a bit about the situation. They claim that if I try a club. The people the same age as me will "overtake my position". And the club could reject me because of my beginner level. What should I do?

Please no hate :(

Age 30. I want to make a good presence in football in local games. Not fit, 0 dribbling knowledge, get nervous when the ball appears to me.

How to build up myself so that I can make better contributions in a game?

who could we compare 2021 Ballondor Jorginho with? If McTominay won the 2024 Euros with Scotland, could we compare them? Or maybe 2010 Iniesta?

Not what is your all time best XI that you can come up with but what is your all time favorite XI. As in the team of your favorite players. I’ll start:

Attackers: Kylian Mbappe, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba

Midfielders: Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Ronaldinho

Defenders: Kolo Toure, Roberto Carlos, Dani Alves, Nuno Mendes

Goalkeeper: Iker Casillas

Im a new soccer fan. Keep getting highlights for Paolo maldini era AC milan. Incredibly entertaining team but what captivates me is how good their defense was. I keep thinking i wish i saw this stuff live even though I was a little kid at the time and not into sports. So anyway what team gives you that sense of wonder in todays game

I’d love a few club soccer jerseys but I can’t get over the ads. Not only do they exist but they are HUGE, so much so that you identify the team more from the ad than the color or logo.

A few questions -

-what’s the reason for the ads? Obviously money but surely there are other ways to make money, the NFL for example only has ads on practice jerseys

-why do they have to be so big? Surely a big team logo in the middle with the ad in the corner would look better

-how has there not been pushback from fans? NBA fans were furious when the league started the put tiny ads on jerseys.

Ironically, putting ads on everything is stereotypically an “American” trait, yet it’s all over Europe.