Alive and kicking—walking soccer players defy stereotypes and show fitness is for everyone

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Older people are defying stereotypes of aging by playing walking soccer, research from Cardiff University shows. Walking soccer is advertised as an accessible sport that provides a safe, sociable and inclusive physical activity. Rules vary depending on the respective club or league, but two well-established stipulations are that players must walk, not run, and excessive physical contact is prohibited.

Dr. Gareth Thomas of the School of Social Sciences carried out 65 anonymous interviews with older men and women playing walking soccer, a variation of running soccer, targeted at people, particularly men, 50 and older. The findings are published in the International Review for the Sociology of Sport.

Players involved in the research said they enjoyed how it helped them stay physically fit and socially active as they aged. They also talked about the sheer joy of playing and, for many of them, the excitement of kicking a soccer ball again.

Spencer Pratten, 71, former captain of the England Over 60s men's walking soccer team and now a member of the over-70s side, agreed with the research findings and said walking soccer had given him a new opportunity to take part in the sport he loved. The England team won the inaugural World Nations Cup in 2023 and again in 2025.

He said, "Everyone is watching the World Cup this summer, but walking soccer has so many of the same skills. Mindset is critical for any sport. If you're positive and work as a team, it gets inside you, lifts you and makes you give it your all.

"I've been playing soccer from the age of 6. Soccer has always been part of my life. When I got to my 60s playing veterans matches, and I was playing against people in their 40s, it was a bit physically demanding and I thought, that's now the end of my soccer career. That's when I discovered walking soccer, and I realized I could carry on playing for years more.

"The rules are that there's no physical contact, so you're not going to risk injury. The game is all about positioning, clever movement and simplicity; it's very much an intelligence game. It's not about speed. It's about keeping the ball, using the created space and finding the right pass at the right time.

"You think your time is done soccer-wise, and a generation ago that might have been the case. But now there are walking soccer players in our club playing in their 80s. The camaraderie, team spirit, humor, suppor