Best kids football goal 2022: Portable or permanent fixtures for gardens, parks and beaches

Best: Overall football goal

Score: 10/10

If you’re looking for a hard-wearing, sturdy goal that can stand the test of time in your garden, you can’t beat this offering from Forza. Made from tough, weather-resistant PVC, the frame is designed to face the elements (whether that’s wind, rain or just a bunch of over-excited nine-year-olds living out their World Cup penalty shoot-out dreams).

For a goal this size, it’s surprisingly easy to put together. You simply slot the various parts of the frame together, click in place with the connectors and then add the net (the fiddliest part of the whole operation, but still straightforward). The whole thing took less than 15 minutes to set up, so, once we’d secured it in place using the U-pegs to anchor it to the lawn, we were good to go.

The Forza goal impressed with its sturdiness (the crossbar took a constant battering with some enthusiastic goal attempts) but was thankfully still lightweight, so if you need to move it around the garden to give your lawn a break it’s a breeze. The website says it’s perfect for seven to 13-year-olds and, while we don’t think there’s any lower age limit for a goal like this, we think that’s a fair estimate. All of our testers loved this goal, and the size made it easy for the grown-ups to join in too. It’s such a fantastic all-rounder, at a great price, that’s built to last.

Best: Football goal for the beach

Score: 9/10

This clever piece of kit is the perfect companion for a day at the beach. The design is incredibly well thought out and it’s packed with ingenious features that really do make life easier. The goal comes with a carry bag attached (which means you’ll never misplace it), so all you have to do is undo the toggles and unfold the goal. There’s a built-in foot pump, which took seconds to inflate the goal – it’s so easy to use our six-year-old tester could do it by himself. And that is one of our favourite things about this goal; it’s perfect for kids to carry, set up and pack away all by themselves – meaning you may even get a few minutes to relax.

Once inflated, the goal felt solid and sturdy, and certainly stood up well against some powerful goals during a competitive family game of football. It also comes with pegs to secure in the ground – whether that’s at home in the garden or at a campsite or beach – as well as side pockets, designed for you to add in a drinks bottle on either side to help weigh it all down.

Measuring W 95cm x H 70cm x D 55cm, it’s not huge, but we found it a brilliant size for beach friendlies and lightweight enough that we didn’t mind lugging it around with the rest of our beach paraphernalia. All of our testers thought the bright red and orange colour scheme was cool, and it definitely made it easier to spot them on the beach on the way back from an ice cream run.

Best: Football goal for preschoolers

Score: 8/10

This nifty, Messi-approved, all-in-one system comes with a folding goal, ground pegs, mini football and pump – not bad for just over £30. Contrary to the name, this is not a large goal, in fact, it’s the total opposite. Measuring 89cm x 60cm x 60cm, it’s compact – designed more for precision shooting than anything else. However, we found that this size made it the perfect choice for our three-year-old tester, who absolutely loved kicking the ball (equally as diddy, but great for preschoolers) into the net and celebrating in her own unique style.

The goal couldn’t be easier to assemble – you just have to open it out and it clicks in place, with the net already attached. To fold, simply press the buttons on each joint to collapse into a very portable and lightweight package. Because it’s so light, you definitely need to use the ground pegs included to secure it on your lawn, otherwise it has the tendency to move around a bit (especially when our older testers used their own, heavier footballs). We also found this was a great goal for our youngest tester to use inside – we just weighted the back down with a couple of coats to keep it in place, for a little hallway kickaround on a rainy day.

Best: Football goal for quality

Score: 9.5/10

BazookaGoal is a brand beloved – and used – by many of the top-flight club academies, like Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona, and it’s not hard to see why. These pop-up goals are amazingly well made and versatile, and they proved an instant hit with all of our testers. Out of all of the pop-up goals we tested, this was by far the sturdiest and we feel confident this goal would survive years of play and penalty shoot-outs.

The goal comes folded and secured with Velcro straps, as well as a long strap for slinging over your shoulder to take to the park (it’s only 5kg in weight) or pack in the car. To assemble you just need to slide out each end to extend, fold towards you, and then press the central button for it to pop up (with the net attached). A word of warning – the mechanism is spring-loaded, so be prepared for the goal to pop up fairly quickly when you press the button.

Unlike the other goals we tested, this one came without ground pegs as the integrated spring-coil system helps it stay put. We were a little dubious at first, but despite our little strikers’ best efforts, this goal was going nowhere – it’s solid and everything about it looks high-quality. The BazookaGoal is available in a variety of sizes, comes with a two-year warranty and you can order various spare parts to help extend the life of your goal, which we felt was a nice sustainable touch. We think this makes a great-looking and hard-working addition to the garden.

Best: Budget football goal

Score: 9/10

It took minutes to set up this lightweight goal from Amazon’s own brand – the fibreglass poles are similar to tent poles, with a strong bungee cord running through them for added stability. Once up, it measures a decent 200cm x 100cm x 100cm, making it an ideal size for kids up to around nine-years-old and well-suited to smaller gardens.

Yes, it may be lightweight, but this goal stood up to multiple balls being pelted into it, no problem – although we were grateful for the ground pegs fixing it in place when one of the grown-ups decided to get involved. In fact, for the price we were really impressed with the quality of this budget goal (it fared well after being left up outside in the rain for a week), and we loved how easy it was to pack away at the end of play.

It gets extra marks for the handy carry case that it comes with, perfect for fitting everything in and a great size for our six-year-old to carry about himself. This goal has been taken on trips to the park and to the grandparents’, without taking up much room in the car. Overall, we think it’s a great, affordable option for football matches at home and away.

Best: Football goal for a large garden

Rating: 9.5/10

If you’ve got the space, this 300cm x 200cm x 100cm steel and aluminium frame goal will keep even the most dedicated football-mad kids happy. Out of all of the goals we tested, this one took the longest to set up, but it was still straightforward – simply a case of slotting the pole sections together to create the frame, then adding the net (threading this into the net hooks was the most time-consuming part, but once in place you won’t have to worry about the net coming loose). Despite its sleek appearance, the frame was solid and resilient, with the centre back bar adding an extra level of stability.

Our oldest tester really liked how this goal is fitted with real top corners, which gave it a cool pro-football feel – and upped the ante when it came to penalties. The navy and orange/red colourway was also a hit with our testers – and it certainly looked smart when set up in the garden

As well as all of this, it’s lightweight enough to move around when it comes to mowing the lawn. The goal comes with a two-year warranty and, although it’s designed to stand up against the elements, it is recommended you store it somewhere dry during winter if you want to extend its life as long as possible. For under £90 we think it’s a sturdy, attractive and great size goal that older kids will get plenty of use out of.

Best: Football goal for target practice

Rating: 8/10

Want to put your skills to the test? This pop-up goal can certainly do that! Ready to use straight out of the bag (it unfolds and “pops” into place like a pop-up tent), you just need to add the ground pegs and you’re away. The small goal (106 cm x 76cm x 76cm) has five holes to try and score through, each gaining you various points. This appealed to our six and nine-year-old testers’ competitive nature (OK, and ours too), who spent hours trying to hone their precision skills. It’s actually harder than it looks….

When the kids are bored of target practice, simply flip the pop-up around and it turns into your standard goal – two for the price of one, excellent. Folding away is much like folding down a pop-up tent, so once you’ve mastered the twist it’s very quick and easy. The whole thing packs away into a black, circular carry bag for trips away.

Best: First football goal

Rating: 8/10

If you want to raise the next Fran Kirby or Raheem Sterling you need to start early, and this cute and colourful toy goal is a great way to capture the imagination of babies and toddlers. The idea is that little kickers need to hit the panda goalie with the mini football included and will be rewarded with flashing lights and sounds.

Measuring 66cm x 58cm x 44cm it’s an indoor-only toy (it needs three AA batteries) and, although it doesn’t fold away, we found it managed to fit quite neatly into the corner of the room when we weren’t using it. Our three-year-old tester was probably a little too old for this – it’s ideal for 12-36 months – but she still thought it was great fun and the incentive to hit the panda goalkeeper definitely helped improve her aim.

What we particularly liked was how many play options this sports centre offered, including the goal, as well as a basketball hoop and ball target, along with all the songs, lights and buttons to press. If you’re looking for a cute goal to introduce your baby to the joys of football, boost those fine and gross motor skills and hold their attention for longer than two-minutes, this more than does the job.