How PlayFives began
PlayFives was born out of our founder's own struggles to play organised pick-up football after moving to London.
Having played matches through well known peer-to-peer competitors, he believed there must be a better way to ensure exceptional user experience for players. He had either personally experienced, or heard stories of, poorly organised matches and issues that could only be solved through a centralised model taking ownership over the organisation of matches.
Moving to London
In 2024, Theo Burns (founder of PlayFives) moved to London, not knowing anyone. He threw himself into sports as a way to meet new people, and made many close friends in the process.
Monday night 5-a-side
In 2025, Theo joined a mixed 5-a-side team on Monday nights - the mighty Mango Juicers. The team often struggled to field a full team, so they scrambled for new recruits by posting in Facebook groups so the team didn’t have to drop out. Today, PlayFives sponsors the Mango Juicers alongside Hopstop Donuts.
Weekly games for mates
In 2026, Theo started organising weekly 5-a-side games for mates over WhatsApp and, in playing 2-4 times per week, realised that he wasn't the only one fed up with the current options on the market.
Our first pitches
In September 2026, PlayFives secured a partnership with PowerPlay c/o Powerleague for its first pitches. PowerPlay organise leagues at Powerleague partner venues and PlayFives would support individual players who wanted to play football but didn't have a team themselves.
The first PlayFives matches
The first PlayFives matches will be played in January 2027, kicking off with our launch tournament and plenty of prizes to be won. More details to come soon!
