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Five-a-side football is a team sport derived from association football, and is played with five players on each team, four infield players and one goalkeeper. The sport can be played either indoors or outdoors, on an artificial grass or turf surfaces. In some versions the field is surrounded by a barrier on all sides to prevent the ball from leaving the play area.

The objective of the sport is same as association football. Players try to score as many goals as possible within the match duration. The team with the most goals at the end wins the match.

Some of the differences from association football are:

• The sport is played in a much smaller field, with smaller goalposts.
• The duration is usually smaller than regulation football, and depends on the league.
• Unlike football, the penalty area is semicircular in shape.
• Goalkeepers can only pass the ball to other players with hands and can kick the ball only while making a save.
• When the play area is enclosed, there is no out-of-bounds.
• There are no offsides.
• Players handed with yellow cards, have to leave the field and wait for a pre-determined duration before re-entering the match.

There are quite a few leagues around the world that play the five-a-side football, with rules of their own. The most popular and highly regulated version is Futsal.

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Similar Sports

• Futsal — a variant of association football played on a smaller field and usually indoors
• Indoor Soccer — an indoor version of Association Football developed in North America.
• Beach Soccer — similar to association football but played on a beach or sand.
• Association Football — the world's most popular sport, played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball, on a rectangular field with a goal at each end.
• Cageball — a type of indoor football (soccer) played on a small rectangular field surrounded by high walls.
• 5-a-side football (blind football) — one of the versions of Paralympic Football is a 5-a-side game for blind or visually impaired Athletes.

Related Pages

• About football (general)
• Football Decoder — what is called football around the world?
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports