Countdown to the Games
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19-24 June 2022

Football

Know your facts:

  • Unified Sports? Yes
  • Estimated number of athletes participating: 735 athletes+ 105 Unified partners

Football is a team sport. In Special Olympics, more than 300,000 athletes play the sport worldwide.
 

Special Olympics feature:
In our competitions seven play against seven with some special rules:

  • The goalkeeper throws the ball into play.
  • The goal has a size of 5x2 meters.
  • A team has a maximum of 12 players, substitutions are unlimited.
  • There is no offside rule.
  • After the ball has been out of bounds, it must be kicked back into play, and no direct goal can be scored.
  • There are two halves of 20 minutes each, with a five minute halftime break. 
  • If there is a tie at the end of the game, there will be two five-minute overtime periods. If still no team is victorious after that, it goes directly to a penalty shootout.

 
We have four competitions at National Games:

  1. Team competition - Women
  2. Team competition - Men
  3. Unified Sports Team Competition - Women
  4. Unified Sports Team Competition - Men
Find all information about timings in the competition schedule.

LEARN MORE
For our football competitions tickets are required.

LEARN MORE
On the photo, there are three football players during a match. One of them is kicking the ball while the other two are her opponents.
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In the photo you can see the soccer team of Special Olympics Germany. They are standing in a circle and shouting loudly.
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The photo shows two football players in action while one of them is dynamically kicking the ball.
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The photo shows a group of football players smiling and hugging on the pitch.
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Football takes place at Maifeld on the grounds of Olympiapark.