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by smcl
1174 days ago
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There probably aren't many regulation football pitches that narrow ... but it is absolutely permitted. You can get this information plenty of places but since you raised FIFA, it's in their PDF containing the Laws Of The Game (determined by IFAB) https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1cf301829f1cf996/original/ifab... - see pages 36 and page 37 Note that they do impose some additional restrictions for internationals. And yes UEFA also have restrictions on the dimensions of the pitches that can be used for their competitions (Europa League, Champions League, Conference League) much like they have restrictions on stadia at various levels in those competitions. But according to the laws of the game, those are the dimensions. It wasn't always this way - Rangers narrowed their pitch by "a couple of yards" to mess with Dynamo Kiev in the European Cup back in the late 80s (it worked, they beat them and advanced). We both know that a 45x120m pitch would look certainly look weird, but if we are talking about what is allowed in football the standard are the IFAB laws, not what UEFA stipulate for their elite competitions. If you're watching the English Premiership then you won't see such pitches - these clubs will believe they can compete in such competitions and will want to do host home games at their own stadia. If you're watching or playing in 2nd tier or lower (a number of clubs and pitches vastly outnumbering those at the very top) in any country you very well might encounter them. |
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To be pedantic though, EUFA defines grassroots football as anything that is non-professional and non-elite, and since 2017 IFAB says that national FAs are free to make their own rules on pitch dimensions for grassroots football. So there is no contradiction - IFAB, EUFA and your FA are all in agreement :)