MAN v Fat football XI’s
What is Man v fat XI'S?
MAN v FAT Football XI’s is a network of regional and national 11 a-side football clubs exclusively accessible to MAN v FAT Football members.
Started by a passionate MAN v FAT member and volunteer, MAN v FAT Football XI’s is enabling overweight men to play even more football in a competitive, safe and fun environment.
MAN v FAT Football XI’s has grown quickly in a relatively short life span. In 2022 it became an official part of the MAN v FAT Football membership offer. It’s maiden season was a huge success thanks to the resourcing from the MAN v FAT Events & Community Co-ordinator and the surrounding team.
In 2023 the second official season of MAN v FAT Football XI’s kicked off and culminated in May 2024 with the final at The New Den, Millwall. Another fantastic season which saw some amazing games throughout both the groups and the knock-out stages of the competition.
Haven't confirmed your return for the 2024/25 season?
Your man v fat football club doesn't have an official xi's team?
want to register for this season?
have some questions about the competition?
If you have any questions about registering for MAN v FAT XI’s, please contact events@manvfat.com, following player feedback from the 2023/24 season, this season players can register their interest without paying a registration fee. Once a club has sufficient player interest, the squad will be notified and players can return to this page to register for their spot.
To register your interest for MAN v FAT Football XI’s 2024/25 please complete this short form.
Key Dates - 2024/25
- Registration of interest – now open!
- 14th July 2024 – Registration of interest closes*
- W/C 15th July 2024 – Groups Released (Progress on provisional groups will be released throughout July)
- July 2024 onwards – FA Affiliation Open**
- July 2024 onwards – Player Registration Window Opens – use link provided below
- July 2024 onwards – Managers to submit players through the Whole Game System
- W/C 19th August 2024 – Group Fixtures Start
- 19th January 2025 – last date for group fixtures to be played
Knock-out Phase - 10th February – 9th March 2025 – Round of 16
- 10th March – 6th April 2025 – Quarter Finals
- 7th April – 4th May 2025 – Semi-finals
- 10th May – 31st May2025 – Final
*When team entry is confirmed into the competition, registration information for the players will be provided. Teams must have a minimum of 20 players to be able to enter with a maximum of 40. (If you have less than 20 players, please contact events@manvfat.com for further information)
**Please check with your County FA for exact dates, but affiliation should be available year round.
PLEASE ONLY USE THE OFFICIAL PLAYER BUTTON BELOW ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM ABOVE AND THE LEAGUE SECRETARY HAS CONFIRMED THAT YOUR CLUB HAS SUFFICIENT PLAYERS TO REGISTER A SQUAD.
During the 2023/24 season we managed the following milestones:
- 32 teams competed during the season
- 123 games played
- 243,540 minutes of extra football provided to our members
KEY CHANGES TO 24/25 SEASON
We can’t wait to bring you the 2024/25 MAN v FAT Football XI’s season! With the opportunity for more teams and nations to join, we aim to go bigger and better again! To support us in continuing to develop the competition while protecting the integrity of MAN v FAT Football and MAN v FAT Football XI’s, this season will see some slight changes to the rules. One of the recurring themes on the feedback we received from teams was related to tightening up the eligibility criteria. Having previously changed the attendance criteria from 1 in 4 to 1 in 3 sessions, we have now made the following changes for the upcoming season.
- Player must have been an active teamed member of your MAN v FAT club for 60 days before they can register as a MAN v FAT XI’s Player (previously 30 days)
- Payments for players registration will not be requested up front, we will wait until your team have been confirmed as entering the competition and will then ask for payment. This stops any players making unnecessary payments, and then having to wait for this money to be refunded.
- September 2024 – players should be able to provide evidence of their eligibility to participate in the competition on match days through the FA’s Matchday App.
Eligibility
The competition remains exclusive to MAN v FAT Footballers. This enables us to support a safe, competitive and fun competition. Systems developed by the FA along with a clear set of competition rules will enable us to achieve exclusivity for eligible MAN v FAT Football members who are attending club sessions.
- Must have been a teamed MAN v FAT member for at least 60 days before you can register.
- Active teamed member of the MAN v FAT Club where you are representing in the XI’s competition.
- Attend 1 in 3 MAN v FAT Football club nights.
- Be active and teamed at the point of any fixture taking place.
COSTS FOR 24/25 SEASON
MAN v FAT have strived to keep player fees to a minimum for the upcoming season and income generated goes towards staff time, resources and facilities for finals day. Teams will need to pay their County FA for affiliation and insurance as many were previously. For those teams returning to the competition from last season, they should find this process a lot easier. Support on how to register a new team with your County FA can be found here. MAN v FAT Football XI’s players will be charged an annual registration fee of just £11.50 per player for the 2024/25 season, the same price as the previous season.
COMPETITION SETUP FOR THE 23/24 SEASON
The 2024/25 season will commence in August 2024 with group stages running from August through until the end of January. The intention, pending uptake, is to place teams into groups with a maximum of six teams. Teams will be expected to play each team in the group at least twice, once at home and once away, meaning that they would play ten fixtures in total, in a group of six. At the end of the group stages the teams that have won each group will progress to a knock-out stage of the competition, they may also be joined by some teams that have finished in second place to make sure that we have 16 teams in the knock out phase. The way that this will be decided will be based on how many groups there are. In the previous season the top two teams from each group qualified based on us having 8 groups, if the number of groups are higher/lower then we will adjust the qualification criteria and teams will be advised accordingly.
After the group stages teams will then go into a knock-out stage where they will play two-legged ties against teams from their regional area, normally split into North and South, with games going straight to penalties if the scores are level after the two games. This will continue until we are left with two teams who will play in the final at the end of May 2025, at a venue to be confirmed. Previous season final venues have been The BET 365 Stadium, Stoke (Season 2022/23) and The New Den, Millwall (Season 2023/24).
Teams will be expected to complete a maximum of two games each month and will be given a fixture window (two weeks) to complete each round of fixtures.
POTENTIAL INTER NATIONS ASPECTS - welcome to wales/scotland
We will endeavour to keep MAN v FAT Football XI’s as inclusive and accessible to all as possible. All clubs in England, Scotland and Wales will be able to enter the competition this season. If there is enough uptake, each of these areas, Wales and Scotland, will be given their own group to compete for places in the knock-out stages. There will be a requirement at some stage of the competition for teams outside of England to cross the border and play fixtures against teams covered by the FA and vice versa, as teams will be playing home and away legs in the knock-out stages of the competition.
We are very excited at the prospect of bringing the Welsh and Scottish clubs into the competition to make sure that it encompasses as much of the MAN v FAT community as possible.
We understand that change will bring questions and as a team we will do our best to answer them as quickly as possible. To help with this you will find a current copy of our MAN v FAT Football XI’s FAQ’s below along with the rules for this season’s competition and some other helpful information for both returning clubs and new clubs to the competition.
season roundup and looking ahead to 2024/25
The 2023/24 season was another amazing season which saw some fantastic games across the MAN v FAT community. It saw several new teams join the competition and saw some old rivalries continue. For an update on the season and interviews with the managers who made it all the way to the final, click here.
Preston MAN v FAT lift the trophy for a second consecutive season after their convincing victory against Walsall Bescott Saddlers in the final for season 2023/24 at The New Den, Millwall. For more pictures from the finals day, and the Amazing Losers Game, please go to the following link:
Click here to view images.
Key Links
* Each County FA will have a similar document that you will be able to access. When you click on the above link it will download the document as a PDF file.
