Football Books for Kids and a Story Starring Your Child
Make a story like this with your child as the hero
Some children are born with a ball at their feet. They dribble round the kitchen table, practise goal celebrations in the hallway and can tell you who scored, how and in which minute. If yours wears their team shirt to bed and spends every Saturday morning at the park, this guide is for you, whether you call it football or soccer.
Below are the football books for kids that young fans actually ask for, a short football bedtime story to tell tonight, a simple six-step way to invent your own, and how to turn it into a printed picture book: a football story starring your child, with their name on the cover.
Football and Soccer Books for Kids
Good sports stories are rarely only about winning. The best ones are about teamwork, trying again and being a good friend on the pitch. These five soccer books for kids span picture books to first non-fiction.
Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London and Frank Remkiewicz: Froggy's team is in the big game, and he must remember one rule: don't touch the ball with your hands. Silly, bouncy and easy to follow for little ones.
Dino-Soccer by Lisa Wheeler and Barry Gott: two teams of dinosaurs battle it out on the field in rhyme. A winner for children who love dinosaurs and football in equal measure.
Goal! by Mina Javaherbin and A.G. Ford: a boy in South Africa gets a new ball and plays with his friends in the street, keeping one eye out for trouble. A moving story about the joy of the game and looking out for each other.
Pelé, King of Soccer by Monica Brown and Rudy Gutierrez: how a boy who practised with a sock stuffed with rags became the most famous footballer in the world. Bright, bold pictures and a story about never giving up.
Football School by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton: a fact-packed series that teaches science, history and maths through football. For confident readers of seven and up who want to know everything about the game.
The ones children come back to share a simple shape: a young player, a match that matters to them, a moment when they help a teammate or find their courage, and a happy walk home. That's a shape your own child's football story can use too.
A Five-Minute Football Bedtime Story
Here is a calm story to wind down after a busy day of kicking balls. Put your child's name in for Sam, and slow down as the match comes to an end.
The night before the big game, Sam couldn't sleep. "What if I miss?" Sam whispered to the ball at the end of the bed.
The ball rolled over, just a little. "Then you try again," it said in a small, round voice. "That's what everyone does. Shall we practise?"
So, very quietly, Sam and the ball tiptoed out into the moonlit garden. The washing line was the crossbar, two flowerpots were the posts, and the moon was the only one watching. Sam kicked, and missed. Kicked again, and missed. The third time, the ball sailed between the flowerpots and landed softly in the lavender.
"See?" said the ball. "Missing is just part of getting it right." Sam carried it back upstairs, tucked it in at the foot of the bed and fell asleep almost at once.
The next morning, in the very last minute of the game, Sam remembered. And this time, it went in first time.
The next night, your child will have their own ideas about what the ball should say. Let them tell it. That's how their own football story begins.
Make It Their Own: a Football Story Recipe
Six short answers make a whole match. Tell each one with a little detail and the story lasts about five minutes.
The player: your child's name and age, their shirt colour and their number. Blue with a big seven, red and white stripes, the shirt from the cupboard that's two sizes too big.
The pitch: where they play. The park on Saturday mornings, the school playground, the back garden with jumpers for goalposts.
The team: a teammate or two, with one funny habit each. A goalkeeper who sings, a friend who is shy, a coach with a very loud whistle.
The challenge: something that makes the game tricky. A shy teammate who never gets the ball, a lost ball before kick-off, rain turning the pitch to mud.
The big moment: what your child does. A kind pass, a brave save, a bouncy goal in the very last minute.
The final whistle: how your Saturdays really end. Muddy boots, orange slices, a bath and the shirt straight in the washing machine.
A Worked Example: Mia's Bouncy Goal
Here are the six answers for a little girl called Mia, who loves football.
The player: Mia, in her yellow raincoat and wellies (she played in what she wore in her photo; a photo of your child in their kit puts them in their kit).
The pitch: the park with an old oak tree and two small white goals.
The team: Kit, her shy teammate, and Jo, who ties their trainers very carefully, both in plain blue shirts.
The challenge: Kit waits quietly at the edge and never gets the ball.
The big moment: Mia passes to Kit, Kit passes back, and in the very last minute Mia kicks the bounce into the goal. Boing!
The final whistle: home with muddy knees and a big smile. What a lovely game!
This is a real example from Photo9's story writer. We gave it Mia's name, her age, that she loves football, and one of the ready stories below: a Saturday match in the park. It wrote the fourteen pages and drew every picture. Mia isn't a real child: we drew her as a sample.
From Story to Book: a Personalised Football Book
A story told at bedtime is over by the final whistle. A printed one can be read on the way to matches, shown to the coach and kept long after the shirt no longer fits. Photo9 makes yours into a personalised football book with your child drawn as the star from one photo.
Add one photo. Ideally in their kit, as the drawing keeps the clothes from the photo. We draw them first, free of charge, so you see the likeness before deciding. The photo is only used to draw the book and is deleted afterwards; it is never shared or used to train AI.
Pick the match. Choose a ready football story below, or write your six answers in your own words.
Tell us their team colours and the reader's age. Little ones get short lines with plenty of "boing"; older readers get longer sentences and more of the game.
Choose a look. 3D animation, watercolour or classic storybook, with the words beside each picture or one big painting across both pages.
Read every page before ordering. Change any word, and add a dedication from you or the coach on the first page.
Each book is a 30-page square hardcover with 14 illustrated scenes, printed in your region. We draw plain shirts, without club badges or sponsors. Up to three teammates can play too, like a brother, a best friend or a cheering grandparent, each from their own photo.
Ready Football Stories to Start From
Not in the mood for writing? Kick off with one of these. Each is written around your child: their name, their age and how they play.
The big match: a Saturday game in the park, a kind pass and one bouncy goal.
The woodland match: the forest animals need one more player, and your child joins in.
The lost cup: the team's shiny cup has gone missing just before the party.
The Christmas match: a friendly match in the snow against Santa's elves.
A big football adventure: leave it to us, with the friendliest match ever and home again.
Each link opens the book maker with that story picked. Nothing is printed until you order.
Football Gifts for Kids
Young players often have the ball, the shirt and the posters already. A book where they score the winning goal themselves is the one thing that isn't in the club shop, which makes it one of the more memorable football gifts for kids: for a birthday, Christmas, or the end of the season. To make the most of it:
Use a photo in their kit. Facing the camera, in daylight. The drawing keeps the clothes, so they play in their own colours.
Bring the team along. A teammate, a sibling or the family dog can be in the same book.
Write a message on the first page. A few words from you, a grandparent or the coach make it a keepsake.
Send it to their door. Enter their address at checkout and the book arrives straight there.
For more ideas, see our guide to personal photo book birthday gifts. And for the season itself, you can make a photo book of your child's drawings or a team album from your match-day photos.
Reading It Together
Expect a lot of commentary. Let your child find themselves on every page, shout "goal!" at the right moment and read the last line of each page once they know it. Before long they'll be reading the match report to their teammates.
Other passions in the house? Our guides to dinosaur books and a story starring your child, space books and dog and cat books use the same recipe, and our Christmas story starring your child has ideas for December. All our personalised children's books start with one photo, for bedtime, birthdays, a new baby or the first day at school.
Questions Parents Ask
Can I choose their team colours?
Yes. Tell us the colours of their shirt, their number and where they play, and it is drawn that way on every page. We draw plain shirts, without club badges or sponsors.
Can it be about their real team?
Yes, in the story: their coach's name, their teammates, the pitch where they play on Saturdays. The kit is drawn plain, in your team's colours.
How many photos do you need?
Just one clear photo, ideally in their kit. We draw your child once from it and paint every picture from that drawing, so they look like themselves throughout.
Can teammates or siblings join in?
Yes, up to three companions, each drawn from their own photo.
When does it arrive?
Most books arrive within a week, and checkout shows the delivery date before you pay. Making the drawing and the story takes only a few minutes.
