Your free assistant coach for grassroots football
It learns your team, plans your sessions, tracks everyone's game time on match day and tells you what's working. You just coach.
🤖 Hi coach. Tell me about your team and I'll set everything up:
Free, two minutes, no app. Or jump to match day · tonight's training
Saturday, sorted
Open the match tracker at kick-off and tap subs, goals and cards as they happen. Everyone's minutes and positions are worked out for you, alarms tell you when it's half time, and the result goes straight into your season. No planning needed, and it works with no signal.
Your other coaches can tap in from their phones too, on the same match.
Tonight's session, done
Say who's coming and what you want to work on. Get a full session with diagrams and groups picked, then tell your assistant coach how it went so next week's is better.
What else do you need?
A post for the club page
Help with a problem
Free tools for match day and training
Match day tracker
Tap subs, goals and cards at kick-off. Minutes, positions and the result are saved for the season. No planning needed.
Open the tool →Sub planner
Equal game time in seconds. Pick the age group and get a sub-by-sub plan with minutes for every player.
Open the tool →Line-up builder
Pick a formation, tap players into position and send the line-up to the team chat as an image.
Open the tool →Match-day graphics
Results, fixtures and player of the match in your club colours, ready for social media.
Open the tool →Session planner
Tell it who's coming and what to work on. Get a full session with diagrams and groups picked.
Open the tool →Fixture message
Availability message for the parents' chat plus a calendar invite they add in one tap. No app needed.
Open the tool →More data, better decisions. Zero extra admin.
You're busy. Gafferbook does the remembering: who played where, who's improving, what to work on next. You just coach.
Use any tool, free
No sign-up, no app. Subs, line-ups, sessions and graphics in seconds on your phone.
Save your squad once
Snap your team sheet or paste the names. Every tool fills itself in from then on.
Just tell it how it went
"We won 3-1, Kai was brilliant in goal." Your season record and each player's progress update themselves.
- A Sunday check-in: "How did the team get on?" Reply in a sentence.
- Ask anything: "How's Mia getting on?" "Who hasn't had player of the match?"
- Sessions planned for who's actually coming.
- First names and initials only. You can edit or delete anything.
Stuck on something? Ask.
Bunching, parents, a keeper who won't come off their line, a session for six players on a wet Tuesday. Ask in your own words and get practical, grassroots coaching advice with drills to try.
Tell us about your team and every answer, session and drill gets tailored to your age group, format and formation.
Free AI coaching help from Gafferbook. Ask anything about coaching your team.
Drills and session plans for your age group
Drills by topic and formation
The questions coaches ask most
First-time grassroots football coach: a guide for week one
As a first-time grassroots coach, keep it simple: get your safeguarding check and a free entry course done, plan short sessions built around games, give every child a ball and equal game time, and talk to parents early.
Read →How to plan a football training session (with a free template)
Plan a youth football session in four parts: a warm-up game with a ball each (10 minutes), a skill practice (15 to 20 minutes), a small-sided game on the same theme (15 to 20 minutes) and a free match (15+ minutes).
Read →Equal playing time in youth football: the rules and how to do it
FA mini-soccer guidance says all team members should get equal playing time where possible, with a best-practice minimum of 50% of each game per player.
Read →Moving from 9v9 to 11v11: what changes and how to prepare
The move to 11v11 brings a bigger pitch, offside across the full half, two extra players and new roles such as wide midfielders and a back four or three.
Read →How to teach kids to defend in football (1v1 and beyond)
Teach youth defending in this order: get goal-side, close the space quickly, slow down and get side-on, then show the attacker away from goal and wait for the moment to tackle.
Read →Football coaching badges in the UK: England and Scotland explained
In England, grassroots coaches start with the free online EE Playmaker course, then Introduction to Coaching Football (with safeguarding and first aid), then the UEFA C Diploma.
Read →Future Fit changes every age group
U7s now play 3v3, U9s stay at 5v5, U11s stay at 7v7 and 11v11 starts at U14. Gafferbook's tools already know the new formats, and so does our free cheat sheet.
See the new formats →| Age | Format | Ball |
|---|---|---|
| U7 | 3v3 | Size 3 |
| U8 to U9 | 5v5 | Size 3 |
| U10 to U11 | 7v7 | Size 3 |
| U12 to U13 | 9v9 | Size 4 |
| U14+ | 11v11 | Size 5 |
About Gafferbook
Is Gafferbook free?
Yes. Every tool, drill, session plan and guide is free, with no sign-up needed. A free account saves your squad and team so the tools fill themselves in each week.
What is Gafferbook?
An assistant coach for grassroots football: free tools for match day (subs, line-ups, fixture messages, graphics), training (session planner, drills, formations) and a chat assistant that keeps your squad, results and player progress up to date.
What do you keep about my players?
Only what you choose to save: a first name and initial, positions and your coaching notes. No dates of birth, no photos. The AI never sees full names, and you can edit or delete anything.
Does it work for Scotland as well as England?
Yes. Formats, formations and tools cover 3v3 to 11v11, including England's Future Fit formats and Scotland's youth formats.
Does it work on my phone?
It's built for phones first: nothing to install, and every tool works on the touchline.
Save your team once. Use it every week.
Your squad in every tool, your season record kept for you, a Sunday check-in and an assistant that knows your players.