Advice for the parts other dating guides skip
Most dating advice assumes your weekends are empty. Ours does not. These guides are for people whose diary is shaped by fixtures, whose kit bag lives by the front door or who have fallen for someone who knows the league table better than their own phone number. They cover the questions football fans actually ask, from whether a match makes a good first date to what to do when your partner supports the club you have spent your life disliking.
Everything here is written for UK football: Saturday 3pm kick-offs, Boxing Day fixtures, midweek cup ties, away days on the train and Sunday league in the rain. We keep the advice practical and honest, and we never pretend there is a single right answer.
Start here
Do football fans have their own dating apps? The short answer is yes, a few. Football-led sites, mainstream apps and a simple way to pick.
Dating a football fan What it is really like to go out with a supporter, from the season ticket to the Monday mood after a bad result, plus where single supporters can actually be found.
First dates and date ideas
First date at a football match A live game sounds like the perfect date for two fans. Sometimes it is. When it works, when to wait and how to plan the day.
Date ideas for football fans From stadium tours and lower-league afternoons to five-a-side, museums and pub screenings, with ideas for the season and the summer.
When you see the game differently
When your partner hates football One of you lives for the weekend fixtures; the other could not name a manager. How mixed couples share a season without resentment.
Dating a rival fan Fancy someone in the colours you were raised to dislike? Ground rules for derby day, banter that stays friendly and when to call a truce.
Getting noticed
Football dating profile tips How to put football on your profile in a way that starts conversations, with opening lines that get replies.
City guides
Football and dating both change from city to city. The Manchester, London and Liverpool pages, gathered on the locations hub, cover the clubs, the grounds, getting around on matchday and date ideas that suit each place.
Comparisons
Wondering how a football dating site compares with the apps you already know? Our comparisons look at Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Match and football-themed services, with facts taken from each one's own pages.
A few things we believe
Every guide is written with the same principles in mind.
Football is a good thing to share, not a test. Nobody should have to prove their knowledge to be taken seriously, whether they are a lifelong season ticket holder or a newcomer to the game.
Time matters more than teams. Couples rarely fall out over which club they support. They fall out over how many weekends football takes. Honest conversations about time solve more problems than shared colours.
Rivalry should be fun. Banter is part of the game. Cruelty is not, on the terraces or in a relationship.
Safety comes first. Matchdays bring crowds, alcohol and late journeys home. Our safety page covers what to watch for.
What football couples ask us most
Some questions come up again and again. Here are short answers, with the guides that go into more depth.
Is a match a good first date? Often it is better as a second or third date, once you know you get on. See first date at a football match.
Can a fan date someone who does not like football? Yes, and many do. The key is agreeing how much time the game takes. See when your partner hates football.
Is a rival supporter a good idea? If you can both laugh about it and agree some ground rules for derby day, it can be a great match. See dating a rival fan.
How do I meet single football fans? Go where fans already are, and be clear about football on your dating profile. See dating a football fan.
What should I put on my profile? Be specific about your club and your weekends. See profile tips.
Reading by season
The football year has its own shape, and so do the questions couples face. A rough guide to which articles help when:
August and September. A new season, new fixtures and new resolutions. If you are newly single or new to the site, the profile tips help you start well, and dating a football fan sets expectations for the months ahead.
October to December. The diary fills up with midweek games, cup ties and the busy Christmas programme. This is when when your partner hates football tends to be most useful, especially around Boxing Day.
January to March. Cold evenings and cup weekends suit indoor plans. The date ideas guide has options for wet Saturdays as well as match days.
April and May. Run-ins, derbies with something riding on them and the occasional promotion party. If your team is chasing something and your partner supports the other lot, revisit dating a rival fan.
June and July. The fixture list pauses, which often makes it the easiest time to arrange first dates. A tournament summer brings its own fun.
How we choose topics
We pick subjects by listening to what supporters actually ask: in fan forums, in dating communities and among friends. If a question keeps coming up and nobody has answered it well for UK football, it goes on our list.
Safety in every guide
Each article includes practical safety notes where they matter, from planning the journey home after an evening kick-off to spotting ticket scams in private messages. The full advice is on our safety page.
Why we write these
There is a lot of dating advice online, and very little of it understands football. Most of it treats the game as a hobby to be negotiated down, something one partner has to put up with. We see it differently. For a lot of people football is family, friendship, identity and a weekly dose of hope and despair, and a good relationship makes room for that.
We also want to be honest about the difficult parts. Football can take a lot of time and money. It can bring out moods that are hard to live with. It can clash with birthdays, weddings and Christmas. Pretending otherwise does nobody any favours, so our guides talk about the awkward bits as well as the fun ones.
More guides on the way
We add new guides as we write them properly, and we would rather publish a few useful pages than a long list of thin ones. Future topics include away days, tournament summers, fantasy football and dating as a female fan.
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How to get the most from these guides
Each guide stands alone, but they work best read in pairs. If you are new to dating a supporter, read the fan guide and then the profile tips. If you are planning a matchday date, pair the first-date guide with the relevant city page for transport. And if things are tense at home, the guide for mixed couples and the rival fan guide cover the two most common sources of friction.