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How to give every player fair playing time

By the coach who built Team Selector. Updated 1 November 2026.

Ten players, seven shirts. Somebody's on the touchline every week, and somebody's parent is counting. Here's how to share the minutes out properly, plan it before kick-off, and keep it fair when the morning doesn't go to plan.

Why it matters

Players come to play. They've given up their weekend morning, somebody's driven them there, and standing in a bib for most of the game isn't what anybody signed up for.

Minutes are also how players get better. Nobody learns to defend a two-on-one from the bench. A player who gets ten minutes a week falls behind the one who gets forty, then gets even fewer minutes because they've fallen behind. That's how players drift away from the game.

And it keeps the touchline calm. Parents don't need every game to be identical. They need to see that you've thought about it and that it evens out. A plan shows that. Picking on the morning from memory doesn't.

How fair is fair? It depends on the age group

Fair doesn't mean the same thing at every age. Here's a sensible way to think about it.

U7 to U11: equal minutes. At mini soccer and small-sided ages, everyone plays the same amount, every game, give or take a minute or two. Nobody remembers the score by Tuesday. They remember whether they got a game.

U12 to U18: fair over the season. Once you're playing 9v9 and 11v11, there'll be games where you want your strongest side on for longer, like a cup tie or a top-of-the-table game. That's fine, as long as it evens out. The player who sat out more this week starts next week. Count it over a month or a season, not one match.

Open age: the coach's call. With adults, picking to win is part of the game. But the player who pays their subs, trains every week and never moans deserves minutes too, and an honest word when they don't get them. If you're going to pick on form, say so at the start of the season, not in the car park.

Whatever the age, your league's rules come first. Some leagues and competitions have their own rules on playing time, so check yours. If you're not sure which format your age group plays, it's in our guide to FA FutureFit formats by age group.

Plan the minutes before kick-off

Don't try to work it out during the game. You're watching the football, the clock and the parent who's just arrived with a dog. Do it the night before, when it's quiet. You need three numbers:

1. Players on the pitch. That's your format: 5, 7, 9 or 11.
2. Match length. Your league's rules set it for your age group.
3. Players you've got. Not the squad. Who's actually coming.

Then it's one sum: players on the pitch, times the match length, divided by the players you've got. That's each player's fair share of the minutes.

Worked example: 10 players, 7-a-side, two halves of 25 minutes

The 25-minute halves are just for the sums. Use your own league's match length.

Seven players on the pitch for 50 minutes is 7 × 50 = 350 minutes of football to share out. Shared between ten players, that's 350 ÷ 10 = 35 minutes each. So everyone sits out 50 minus 35, which is 15 minutes.

Check it from the other side. Three on the bench for 50 minutes is 3 × 50 = 150 minutes of sitting out, and 150 ÷ 10 = 15 each. It adds up.

Now turn it into changes. The easiest way is one change every five minutes. Write the ten names down in order. The first seven start and the last three are your subs, waiting in a queue. Every five minutes, the next name down the list comes off and joins the back of the queue, and whoever's at the front of the queue goes on.

Alfie, Bea, Charlie, Dev, Ellie, Finn and Grace start, with Ellie in goal. Harry, Isla and Jay are the subs.

At half-time Ellie comes off and Bea goes in goal for the second half. Add it up and every player gets exactly 35 minutes. Eight of them sit out once, for 15 minutes in one go. Harry and Isla sit out twice: 5 minutes then 10, and 10 then 5.

Why it comes out level: 50 minutes splits into ten blocks of five, one block for each player. When the number of blocks matches the number of players, this list method shares the minutes out exactly. Eight players in a 40-minute game works the same way, with a change every five minutes. There are plans for 5, 9 and 11-a-side in our guide to substitution plans.

Keepers, late arrivals and injuries

Keepers. Time in goal is playing time, so count it. At the youngest ages, give everyone who fancies it a turn in goal. Decide who's in goal first, then fit the outfield around them. In the plan above, whoever's fifth on the list plays the whole first half and whoever's second plays the whole second half, so that's where your two keepers go.

If one player keeps goal for the whole game, leave them out of the sums and share out the outfield minutes. In the example that's six outfield places for 50 minutes, which is 300 minutes between nine players: 33 and a third each. That won't split into five-minute changes, so get as close as you can. Six play 35 minutes and three play 30, which adds up to 300. Next week, it's three different players on 30.

Late arrivals. If you think someone might be late, put them last on the list. In the example, Jay doesn't go on until 15 minutes anyway, so a late lift costs nothing. If someone turns up later than that, put them on at the next change and sort the numbers out at half-time: add up who's played what, then share out the second half so the totals end up as level as you can make them. Don't make them sit out extra to prove a point. At junior level it's rarely the player's fault. They're eight, and somebody else was driving.

Injuries. The minutes a player has played still count when they come off hurt. The next sub goes on and you carry on down the list. If they can't come back, take them off the list. The queue is one shorter, so everyone still to sit out gets a shorter turn on the bench. It won't come out exactly level. Get it close, and even it up next week.

Keep a record across the season

Fair over the season only works if you know what happened over the season. Memory isn't up to it. You'll remember the game where someone had a nightmare and forget the three where they were brilliant.

Keep it simple: names down the side, matches across the top, minutes in each box and a running total at the end. Add who started, and who went in goal if you rotate keepers. It's two minutes after each game.

Then look at it every few weeks. Whoever's lowest starts next week. Whoever's started on the bench three weeks running doesn't make it four. And when a parent asks, you've got the numbers, not a feeling.

How Team Selector does it for you

This is what Game time in Team Selector is for. Pick your squad and your starting team, tap Game time, and before kick-off you get a who-plays-when plan with each player's minutes and a verdict: Fair, Nearly fair or Uneven. Change anything by hand, or tap Reshuffle for a different plan.

Tap Kick off and it runs the match with you. There's a match clock, a Next subs card with a countdown, and a sub alert on your phone when a change is due. On iPhone the score, the clock and the next subs show on your Lock Screen. Log the goals and who scored them as they go in. If a player gets injured or turns up late, tell the app and it replans the rest of the match from the minutes actually played.

At full time you get the result and everyone's minutes, and they go towards the season table. How hard it pushes for fairness follows the age group: equal minutes for U7 to U11, fair over the season for U12 to U18, and your call for open age.

Fair sides at training matter too. The free Team Balancer splits any group into fair teams in your browser, no download.