You’ve probably been in awe while watching a football match with how big the pitch is. And probably wondered how big a football pitch is in acres. It’s huge, especially if you’ve watched American football or other sports.
A baseball field is large, and an American football field is large too. But both hardly compare to some football pitches around the world.
The size of a football pitch makes players look so small. And you must wonder and be impressed by how far players run throughout a match. It seems like an American football field and baseball field can fit inside of a football pitch. Football pitches are so big that they compare to crop fields and farms in size. Crops and farms use acres as their measurement of size.
How big is a football pitch in acres?
A standard football pitch is about 110 yards in length by 70 yards in width. Which is about one and a half acres. It’s safe to say that a football pitch is one and a half acres.
However, rules allow for some flexibility in size and vary by pitches throughout the world. When you include the surrounding land around the field of play, pitches take up about 2 acres.
You can fit an American Football field within a football (soccer) pitch. A standard American Football field is 100 yards in length by 53 yards in width.
Now let’s get into the terminology of a “pitch” or field and the difference in sizes.
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Why is a football field called a pitch?
If you’re an American reading this, you probably ask yourself some questions about the terminology.
1) Why is soccer called football?
Very simple, the ball is played with your foot in soccer, thus “football”. In America, football is a completely different sport than football around the world. Football around the world is what we call “soccer” in America. And what we call football in America, is called “American Football” around the world. In this article, when we say “football”, we are referring to soccer, not American football.
2) Why is a football field called a pitch?
It’s called a pitch because when football first became popular in England, teams often played on a cricket pitch.
A cricket field has been called a pitch since the end of the 17th century. Long before football was invented. The term “pitch” originated from Middle English “pichen” meaning to drive or fix firmly. This is how part of cricket is played by pitching into the ground to setup a game of cricket. For more on the history of cricket, check out www.icc-cricket.com
When the popularity of football increased throughout England in the 19th century, more fields were needed to play. And having played mostly on cricket pitches, the term “pitch” was popular and transferred over to football fields.
Basically, the term “pitch” stuck when football had their own designated fields outside of cricket fields.
What is the standard size of a football pitch?
As I briefly mentioned earlier, rules allow for some flexibility in size and vary by pitches. According to FA regulations, the dimensions of a football pitch must fall between 100 to 130 yards long and 50 to 100 yards wide. That’s a lot of room for variation. It’s more common at the professional levels of football to have varied sizes of football pitches. One of the main reasons is the historical aspect.
For instance, once pitch might be much smaller simply because the pitch was created decades ago in a spot that it could fit. For that matter, organizations leave it the same as long as it’s within regulation.
This is similar to American Baseball having unique field sizes and characteristics. Which is one of the beauties of both sports. For more on that topic, check out our article Why are Baseball Fields different sizes?
There are standard suggested pitch sizes for specific age groups. And rightfully so. I can’t imagine kids 12 and under running around a pitch that’s 110 yards long by 70 yards wide. Those kids wouldn’t survive an entire match. Below is a list of the suggested size pitches based on age:
- Under 13 & Under 14 = 90 yards x 55 yards
- Under 15 & Under 16 = 100 yards x 60 yards
- 18+, Adult Football & Clubs = 110 yards x 70 yards
Now that we’ve covered the varied sizes of football pitches and why, lets take a look at some of the big leagues or pitches around the world.
How big is a Premier League Pitch?
First, if you don’t know what the “English Premier League” is in football, I highly suggest watching some matches. It’s highly entertaining and the “cream of the crop” for football leagues in the world. It’s like the NFL in American Football, but for football in Europe.
Now there are many other great leagues throughout the world, such as Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga, and French League 1. Being that the Premier League is the most watched and highest rated, we will review how big a Premier League Pitch is.
The recommended Premier League pitch is close to the suggested standard size of any football pitch.
A Premier League Pitch size is 115 yards long by 74 yards wide. Slightly larger than the suggested or average size of 110 yards long by 70 yards wide. Part of the reason for the slightly larger size is the fact that this is the highest level of football in the world. Therefore, the size of the pitch can be slightly bigger because the professional players can handle it.
Overall, Premier League pitches are all very close to the same size with very slight variations depending on the football club.
How big is the pitch at Wembley?
If you don’t know what Wembley stadium is, let me give you some insight. Wembley stadium is the largest football stadium and music venue in the UK. It has legendary history and is known as a top of the line first class football experience for fans.
Also, a first-class experience of music and other sports. Wembley Stadium also hosts NFL (American Football) regular season games as the NFL continues it’s push into the European market.
Wembley is known worldwide for its epic music concerts and has hosted some of the most popular musicians of all time. Simply put, Wembley Stadium is one of the most famous stadiums in the world. It has state of the art facilities, spacious seating for 90,000 seats, and feels close to the action from every seat.
Along with spectacular views and uninterrupted viewing from any seat. It has wide concourses and easy access throughout the stadium. All in all, it’s an incredible venue and a bucket list for any sports or music fan.
The thing people know most about Wembley Stadium beyond its first-class experience, is its sheer size. Wembley Stadium is huge. In fact, it’s one the largest football pitches in all of England. Wembley’s pitch is 115 yards long by 74 yards wide. The size of the pitch combined with the 90,000-seat stadium makes it the largest overall stadium in all of England.
Wembley Stadium truly is an epic site to behold.
Summary
The most important thing to know about a football pitch is that not all football pitches are equal. Rules allow for slight variations of size, in length and width. Football pitches at the professional level have rules specific to the size of a pitch. A football pitch must fall between 100 to 130 yards long and 50 to 100 yards wide.
The most common pitch is 100 yards long and 70 yards wide.
In terms of acres, a standard football pitch is about one and a half acres. When you include the surrounding area of a pitch, it’s close to 2 acres in size. This adds to how large a football pitch looks and feels. It’s very relatable to a crop on farmland, just a big rectangle of grass.
At lower levels of football, there are regulations on size of the pitch. Mostly to help younger groups be able to withstand a match without exhaustion. As you know, football requires a lot of running and stamina. When you see how large Premier League pitches are, it’s impressive that players can run for that long and far.
Next time you view a match or play on a pitch, you know it’s about one and a half acres.
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