Registration for the 2026 winter season is now open. Team organising and player grading for ages Under 9 and up will take place early February 2026 with pre season training and trial games getting underway in March before official season kick off in April 2026 with games running through to end of August. See our key dates for the 2026 season

To be eligible to play in “under age” grades, a player must be under the relevant age on the 31st December of the previous year – eg to play

Under 6 in 2026 you must be 5 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 7 in 2026 you must be 6 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 8 in 2026 you must be 7 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 9 in 2026 you must be 8 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 10 in 2026 you must be 9 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 11 in 2026 you must be 10 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 12 in 2026 you must be 11 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 13 in 2026 you must be 12 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 14 in 2026 you must be 13 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 15 in 2026 you must be 14 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 16 in 2026 you must be 15 or younger on 31st December 2025,

Under 18 in 2026 you must be 17 or younger on 31st December 2025,

To be eligible to play in “over age” grades, a player must be over the relevant age on 31st December in the previous year – eg to play Over 35’s in 2026 you must be 35 on 31st December 2025.

Epping Football Club fields over 90 teams each season across all age groups. For players in mini football (up to Under 8) we encourage players to form teams themselves based on existing friendships however we welcome individual players and will ensure all mini players are organized into a suitable team. Our all girls teams generally don't see players graded due to lower player numbers and teams are most often built around friends, our top Premier League women’s team are an exception and will undergo some grading process. For Boys/Mixed youth aged players Under 9 to Under 18 the club grades players into teams to ensure teams consist of similar ability players and in turn play in a suitable competition against other similar ability players. The practice of grading players has been employed for many years and there is firm evidence that grading players from this age leads to greater player enjoyment and development with increased likelihood the players will continue to play football for future years. Adult teams (outside our top Premier League men’s and women’s) are organised via team managers – we currently field a large number of men’s and women’s teams across a wide range of divisions and welcome any new players not associated with a particular team and will be able to allocate you to a suitable team.

As above we encourage mini players (under 6 - under 8) to form teams with friends, while most adult teams are groups of friends who have played together for many years in a lot of cases. Grading players into suitable teams in ages Under 9 - Under 18 and our top mens and womens teams is an important element and may mean you cannot always play with friends.

All teams require a coach. Our club is run on volunteers and we ask parents of players to consider coaching or managing their child’s team. Coaching is a great experience as a parent and you only need some basic knowledge of football to be able to perform the coaching role. The club will support new and existing coaches no matter what their experience levels and have various online resources to assist as well as offering FFA accredited coaching courses free of charge to our club coaches. For our youngest players in Under 6 and Under 7 where coaches are more often new to the role we employ a cooperative training program where all teams in these ages train at the same time with experienced players and coaches from the club employed to assist in setting up and running the activities and ensuring the coach is supported in their role. Our cooperative training sessions are lots of fun and have become quite a social night for players, coaches and parents.

Please refer to our 2026 pricing page for 2026 registration fees.

The club charges a one off registration fee to play. The cost varies depending on the age group. The registration fee covers costs such as hire of grounds, referee fees, administration charges, insurance and all the other costs associated with running the competition. Less than half the registration fee goes to Epping Football Club and is made up of costs we have to pay to the association for ground hire and competition coordination and governing body costs paid to Football NSW and Football Federation Australia for administration of the game – a full breakdown of the fees is available online when you register. The fees that do get collected by the club help us cover ground hire fees for training, match shirts, training balls and equipment and other admin costs associated with running the club. You will be given a playing shirt for the season (which must be handed back at season end). Players will need to purchase EFC club shorts and socks which will be available for purchase before the season starts. In addition, every player must have football boots and shin pads which you can buy at most sports stores. There are no other ongoing fees or charges.