Pre-Season Friendlies: How to Find Opponents Without the WhatsApp Scramble

Every grassroots football manager knows the pre-season routine. The league season ends in May, and by June the pressure starts: you need four to six friendlies booked before August or your squad goes into the new season cold.

So you open WhatsApp. You message the same five managers you always message. Two have already folded their teams. One is on holiday. One left you on read last year. The fifth says yes but then cancels three days before.

Sound familiar? You are not alone.

The Problem With Word of Mouth

Grassroots football has always run on personal contacts. The manager who knows everyone in the county gets fixtures. The manager who just moved to a new area, started a new team, or lost their usual contacts? They struggle.

The system rewards who you know, not whether your team is available and ready to play. That means good teams sit idle while others play every weekend, simply because of networking luck.

• New teams have no contacts and no way to find opponents
• Teams moving up or down divisions lose their usual fixture partners
• Managers who take over mid-season inherit an empty contacts book
• Teams outside major cities have fewer local options and longer travel times

What Actually Works

The teams that fill their pre-season calendars fastest share a few habits:

Start early. The best time to book July friendlies is May. By June, half the available teams are already committed. Teams that plan pre-season fixtures before the current season ends always come out ahead.

Cast a wider net. Relying on three contacts is not a strategy. Teams that post in county FA groups, local leagues, and matchmaking platforms reach more opponents and fill gaps faster.

Confirm in writing. A verbal agreement in the car park after a match is not a confirmed fixture. Date, time, venue, and kit colours need to be agreed in a message trail that both managers can refer back to.

Have backups. Cancellations happen. The difference between a wasted weekend and a productive one is having a second option ready. Teams that keep a shortlist of available opponents can pivot quickly.

A Better Approach

Matchmaking platforms like Fixtrd are built for exactly this problem. Instead of hoping your network delivers, you can browse teams in your area who are actively looking for fixtures right now.

Filter by sport, distance, and level. Send a match request. Agree the details in-app. No group chat noise, no chasing replies, no guesswork about whether the other team is actually available.

Pre-season is too short to waste on a system that relies on luck. The teams that prepare properly perform better when it counts.