Leisure Leagues


Leisure Leagues is an organiser of five-a-side football and six-a-side football, and as well as running leagues in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, they operate leagues in the Republic of Ireland and America.
in 2017, the brand expanded to Pakistan and plans to launch new competitions across the UK and the rest of the world.

History

In the 1980s a co-operative of sports facility managers began the first established network of small-sided football leagues, predominantly in sports halls and, in 1990 these were grouped under a single generic name, Leisure Leagues, to represent a local small-sided football league usually located outside London and in rural or provincial towns across the United Kingdom where the opportunity for low cost competitive sport was limited.
In 1998, the Leisure Leagues Allstars was formed to play challenge matches against other 5 a side teams across the country.
Leisure Leagues then grew throughout the United Kingdom with the first leagues in the Republic of Ireland beginning in 2007, in the United States of America in 2012 and in Pakistan in 2017.
Leisure Leagues is the generic name for multiple organisations operating under either a franchise or licence and is the largest independent network of small-sided leagues globally.
Leisure Leagues operates over 70 separate multi-league franchises in the United Kingdom.

Charities

Leisure Leagues donates its profits to a range of charities, including Cancer Research UK, the Dogs Trust and Blind Children UK. And even with the organisation's massive operations across Europe, they are committed to keeping their travelling carbon neutral.

Leisure Leagues Pakistan

In 2016, the Leisure Leagues brand launched in Pakistan, with a series of exhibition games involving some of the worlds top footballers, like Ronaldinho and Ryan Giggs, the matches are thought to have attracted the largest crowds ever in the history of 6 a side, and became known as the "Ronaldinho and Friends" games.

Leisure Leagues Mexico

In 2019, The brand went to Mexico, launching the first network of leagues in the country.

Testimonials

The organisation has received words of support from several footballing celebrities, including Alan Wiley, Alex McLeish, Stephen Kelly and Jeff Kenna. It is not only in the footballing world though where the charitable work of Leisure Leagues is recognised, as Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Usain Bolt and Boris Johnson have all given messages of support to the organisation.

Format

The Leisure Leagues, using football pitches across the country, give the opportunity to people from different walks of life and standards of football to get involved in a local league.
These are generally people that have been left behind by the 11-a-aide game, which is more geared to better, fitter footballers.
The different leagues in different regions contain varying numbers of teams and divisions. Teams and players can compete in multiple leagues at the same time and as there are different skill levels throughout the leagues, teams may win one league and find themselves in a relegation battle in another.

Number of players

As of April 2017 the Leisure Leagues Network had well over 300,000 players, which makes it the biggest independent network of leagues anywhere in the world, with well over 3000 teams playing in competitions in the UK alone.

New website

On 5 September 2016, Leisure Leagues unveiled its new website. The first league to be tested on it was the Flagship competition at Birmingham University. The roll-out was completed fully on 31 October, with the old website switched off on 1 November 2016.

Leisure Leagues Franchise

In 2010, Leisure Leagues unveiled plans to franchise their brand worldwide. By 2016, almost a third of their leagues were operating on a franchise basis. This includes the competitions in Ireland the US and Pakistan.
In 2014, the brand moved into the USA, and in 2017 leagues had started in Pakistan, with Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho announcing in mid-March that he was to visit Pakistan to be the face of the launch.
The first ever Leisure Leagues Franchisee, Steve Hogan, was celebrating his tenth anniversary with the firm.

Brand Ambassadors

After the success of the launch of the Pakistan leagues, when a series of top stars played in the record breaking games, Leisure Leagues announced a series of brand ambassadors. They added to their star names in September 2018 when Mark Clattenburg signed on as the referees ambassador.

Socca World Cup 2018

Leisure leagues played a central role in the first ever Socca World Cup in Lisbon. The 32 team event was mostly organised by Leisure Leagues, who supplied the UK teams. Matches were played at the Trunkwala Stadium - named in honour of Leisure Leagues Pakistan. Leisure Leagues Brand Ambassador Mark Clattenburg refereed the final, which was won by Germany.

Involvement With England 6 a side

Leisure Leagues holds the license to operate the England 6 a side team, and in February 2020, it was announced that one of their Partners, James and Richard Ockelford would be the Director Of Football for the England team at the 2020 World Cup.

Post Covid 19

On 24th June 2020, Leisure Leagues became the first operator in the world to begin one of its leagues after the global pandemic, with the Guernsey competition kicking off. That was followed by the announcement that on the 5th of July, the Kilkenny League in Ireland would follow.

List of Leagues

The following is a selection of Leisure Leagues Competitions as of February 2020
Aldershot: 6 a side leagues. and
Altrincham 6 a side league.
Ashton Under Lyne 6 a side Leagues.
Birmingham 6 a side Leagues
Bognor Regis 6 a side League.
Brackley 6 a side league.
Braintree 6 a side league
Bridlington 6 a side league
Brighton 5 a side league
Bristol 6 a side League
Burntwood 6 a side League and
Buxton 6 a side league
Cannock 6 a side leagues Sunday Monday
Derby 6 a side league
Desford 5 a side league
Gillingham 6 a side league
Guernsey 6 a side league
Halifax 5 a side league
Kendal 6 a side league
Kilkenny 6 a side league
Kidderminster 6 a side league
Manchester 6 a side league
Matlock 6 a side
Middlesbrough 6 a side
Middleton 6 a side
Newark 6 a side
Newmarket 6 a side
Northwich 6 a side
Nuneaton Etone 6 a side
Nuneaton Academy 6 a side
Plymouth 6 a side
Reading 6 a side
Redditch 6 a side
Rubery 6 a side
Shrewsbury 6 a side
Sittingbourne 6 a side
Solihull 6 a side league
Solihull @ Solihull Moors F.C.
Spalding Brand New League Kicking Off March 2020
Stafford
Stourport
Stroud
Tamworth @ Tamworth F.C.