Method 1: Contact your favourite 5-a-side football club
5-a-side football is all the rage these days, and you’ll have no trouble finding the right club for you after a few searches on the internet. Many companies, such as Five Football Club, Soccer5 or UrbanFootball, have several centres each across France.
Once you’ve located the ideal centre, it can pay to check out its web page. On the UrbanFootball website, for example, there is a page dedicated to finding players to complete a team. All you have to do is select your centre, consult the ads posted or post your own ad, and you’re all set!
Remember that you’re probably not the only one looking for team-mates: it often happens that a 5-a-side football match can’t be played because one of the players is absent, unless a replacement can be found on the spot! By showing that you are available, you can be contacted by a team in need of players, and make new acquaintances. The same goes for choosing the opposing team: advertising an Urban Foot match is an excellent way of attracting players who are ready for battle!
In any case, a phone call to your 5-a-side football centre will never be in vain, and there’s a good chance that the manager will also offer you some sound advice on recruitment.
Method 2: Widen the circle!
5-a-side football is a team sport that’s as fun as it is exhilarating. It’s easy to play even if you’re not a football star, so it’s the perfect way to work up a sweat after work! Why not take the opportunity to get to know your colleagues, and invite them over for a game? You could even be so bold as to invite your manager, or even your boss: he or she will then be able to see for themselves just how much 5-a-side football strengthens team cohesion!
If your nearest and dearest are not available (or not very motivated), this is the time to call on casual acquaintances, people you’ve met briefly at parties, friends of friends of friends… In short, create links in an original way while building up your thighs and calves.
Method 3: Use social networks
The statistics are in your favour: amongst all your contacts, it would be quite astonishing if you couldn’t find 4 Sunday sportsmen and women, or 4 squash aficionados looking for a change of scene, ready to try out this fun, calorie-burning sport with you! Tweet about it, update your Facebook status, post a photo of an empty pitch on your Instagram account – in short, give yourself every chance of success. Your 5-a-side football team is just a click away!
But you can also use websites offering outings in your city, such as those that exist for Lyon: ads for sports sessions feature prominently!
The bonus: building team loyalty!
Even once you’ve found the players you need for a cracking 5-a-side football team, you won’t necessarily be out of trouble! Delays, withdrawals, surprise resignations – the life of a team is not a smooth one. But it seems that a Parisian start-up has come up with a high-performance digital tool for managing your group of team-mates and your match schedule: the SportEasy app, which you can download onto your phone, will save you precious time on reminders and other confirmation emails!
As you can see, even if you’ve just arrived in a new town where you don’t know many people, putting together a 5-a-side football team isn’t as daunting as you might think: the telephone, the internet and social networks will be your best weapons when it comes to recruiting. So make your presence felt!
