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Forbidden City Football Club

Becoming a Citizen

All the info you need to join Beijing's best amateur football club is below. Read on and get invovled!

  • Football Season

    Whatever the season, you’ll find us playing football - be it 11s, 7s, 5s or futsal - not to mention the occasional out of country tour…That said, the main 11 aside league and our own training sessions take a brief break during the months of July over the summer and January.

  • Costs

    Joining FCFC is FREE – there are no club joining fees.

    To play in the league we’ll ask you to pay the 200 RMB league registration fee which covers you for the entire season.

    Players also pay a small fee for playing in matches (100 RMB) and for taking part in training sessions (60 RMB) to partly cover club costs.

    All game and training fees are reduced for students.

  • 11 aside

    We have two teams competing in Beijing’s IFFC League. Forbidden City plays in the Premier League and Summer Palace plays in the First Division. Both teams are playing to a decent standard of football and usually are among the title contenders in their respective divisions.

    Official games take place over the weekend.

  • 5 aside

    Forbidden City FC has a number of teams and players participating in the CIFL operated 5 aside leagues in Beijing.

    Our teams are not necessarily made up of our eleven a-side squad members and are designed to attract new players into our ‘family’. If you fancy playing some football in Beijing, but are not sure about playing 11’s then join us for playing some 5 aside. Games take place during the week.

  • Training

    Our training sessions are organised by club members who are England FA qualified coaches. We try are best to make our training sessions intense and fun. Training takes place every Tuesday 8-10 pm. For more details on this please refer to the training section.

  • Footballing level

    We have multiple teams in order to cater to all ages and levels – but generally speaking all teams (11s and 5s) are competitive and enjoy their football as well as the finer points and pints of Beijing’s nightlife.

  • Club members

    Since the club’s founding in 2004, more than 330 players representing all six continents and 30+ countries have played for Forbidden City Football Club.

    We currently have 60+ active members from all over the globe including the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, North and Latin America, Africa as well as some Chinese.

  • FCFC organisation

    FCFC is a not for profit football club and relies on the dedication and involvement of its managing club members to get things done and bring you what is probably the best run club in Beijing. To get involved in helping out talk to our management team.

  • Pitches

    Most, if not all of the pitches we play on in Beijing are Astroturf.  To see where we play – check out the location section.

Want to play football in Beijing, Join Forbidden City Football Club Now!

Other FAQs

Boots/Cleats

We play on Astroturf, so your usual moulded studs or Astroturf boots should do the trick and are what the lads prefer to wear.

What is it like to play for FCFC?

Competitive football all year round, a cracking social scene and the closest thing you’ll have to family during your stay in Beijing.

Joining the Club

Want to play football and join the FCFC family? Send us an email now to find out more.

Going on Tour

True to our roots, FCFC participates all year round in tours in China and throughout Asia. To take part in these epic tours contact management. More details are hard to come by as what happens on tour stays on tour.

Helping out

We have got so far due to the incredible efforts and planning of a lot of people over the years. People who give up hours of their own free time to organise things for the club, take coaching sessions and plan our parties, events and tours, amongst other things. A huge thank you is due to everyone who has helped out and we hope that more people will come forward to get involved. If you would like to contribute, we can always find something to do for those who are willing. If you are up for it please contact club management by emailing us or voicing your interest to Charles/Kris/Campbell/Alan @ training, games etc.

Sports insurance

We strongly encourage everyone who plays football with FCFC to have at least basic insurance that will cover sporting injury. Medical bills in Beijing can be extraordinarily high, especially, but not only, if you get treated at an international clinic in the city. Therefore, please make sure that you are properly insured. Please understand that Forbidden City FC cannot accept responsibility for any injury that occurs while playing football with us.