Reasons Why Your Child Should Watch Football During The 2021/22 Season

There aren’t many things in life better than playing football – but watching it can be almost as good! For a lot of kids, watching football doesn’t hold nearly as much appeal, but there are plenty of reasons why you might want to encourage your child to do so.

Role Models

One great reason to get your kids into watching football is to provide them with role models. There are few better motivators in football than a great role model that can be looked up to for inspiration.

By watching football, your child can develop an appreciation for the very best professionals in the sport. There is no shortage of fantastic role models in modern football who set an example for young kids aspiring to one day become pros themselves.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are the obvious role models but other consummate professionals playing at the top level include James Milner, Cesar Azpilicueta, Raheem Sterling, and Harry Kane, all of which currently play for English clubs.

Develop an Allegiance

Another benefit to watching football as a child, is the allegiance to a team that will naturally develop. Supporting a club helps build a sense of team spirit and teaches many valuable lessons about winning and losing.

Being able to see your team play live on a match day is another incomparable experience that is only made better by having a strong allegiance to a team.

Positioning

In terms of personal development, watching football as a kid can also be very useful. Seeing professionals play on TV can give kids a better understanding of positioning. Of course, this develops as they continue to play but seeing top-class examples of this only accelerates it further.

If your child is a budding defender, seeing how a defensive line operates in a professional setting can provide valuable information. Likewise, strikers and attackers can see the runs that the best footballers make and can look to emulate these on the pitch themselves.

Tactical Understanding

Much like positioning, tactical understanding will also improve as a result of watching regular football. This area of football knowledge will develop as kids get a little older and watching football on the TV is a great way to supplement this.

Each week, teams use different formations and tactical systems to varying degrees of success. If this is your first time watching a game of football, this is unlikely to be instantly obvious. However, the more football you’re exposed to, the more perceptive and nuanced your understanding of the game will become.

Entertainment

Moving away from the benefits on the pitch, football is worth watching for the simple reason that it is fun. Obviously, this is a subjective opinion, but if your child has a keen interest in the sport, introducing them to watching football may be a good idea.

Of course, every child is different, and age does play a part in the likelihood of enjoying it. Some games can be rather dull and can be a little bit too long to hold some children’s attention. Maybe your child tried watching football and wasn’t into it, give it a few years and this may well change.

Whatever the case, there is no denying that watching football is incredibly popular and as such it’s worth giving a go for that reason alone.

Bonding

If you enjoy watching football yourself, this can be an excellent opportunity to bond with your child over a (hopefully) shared interest. Having something which you can do together on a regular basis is a great way to bond.

From supporting a team together to going to live games, there’s lots of ways in which watching football with your child can help you bond further.

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FAQ

What is the best league in the world?

There is no right answer to this but if you’re looking for the best quality leagues the top five European leagues are the place to start. These are the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga, the German Bundesliga, the Italian Serie A, and the French Ligue 1.

What football should I watch?

Whatever football you want to. If you live in the UK, international football will be available on terrestrial TV, so you can watch the 2022 World Cup on the BBC and on ITV.

What club should my child support?

Again, whatever club they want to. Supporting your local club is always a good idea as it means you may be able to more easily watch them live in action.However, if your child takes an interest in a particular club on TV, encourage this and let them decide who they like.