Common questions

Select Undo to remove the deferral. Confirming the number also removes it.

From Add your affiliation numbers

Nothing different. The entry for the FA Club Portal says that the team is not affiliated yet.

From Add your affiliation numbers

There are two reasons, and the row says which:

• The coach has not accepted the invite. A coach counts only when they have their own Sideline One account, even if you filled in all their details. Select Send the invite again, and ask the coach to open the email.
• The coach's details are not complete. The row names what is missing. The coach can add it, or you can fill in what you know.

From Add your coaches

Sideline leaves out a person with no role on the page, because they may be a player. Add that person by hand.

From Add your coaches

Yes. The screen shows a warning, but you can approve now and record the check later in the full site.

From Approve a coach on your phone

Approve them first, then change their role on the team's staff page in the full site.

From Approve a coach on your phone

Another official approved or declined them already.

From Approve a coach on your phone

Yes. In the full site, open Officials and select Check coaches. The rules and the emails are the same.

From Approve a coach on your phone

Yes. Open the club app, select Inbox, then To do, then Registrations to confirm. Select a player to check the photo and confirm or reject them. To confirm several players, tick them and select the Confirm button under the list. The next screen has Undo, the same as the full site. See Confirm or reject registrations on your phone.

From Approve a registration

The registration is not ready. The Waiting on column says why:

• Awaiting coach: a coach must endorse the registration first.
• Awaiting payment: the family has not paid the fee yet.
• Awaiting Direct Debit: the family has not set up the Direct Debit yet.
• Payer in arrears: the family owes the club money from before. A treasurer clears this.
• Blocked: you or another official blocked the registration. Select Unblock in the three dots menu when the problem is solved.

From Approve a registration

This team asks a coach to check each registration before the club official does. The registration waits until a coach selects Endorse. If a coach does not act, you can select Endorse in the three dots menu instead.

Each team has its own setting. To change it, edit the team and choose under Who approves registrations. If you choose Secretary approves alone, registrations that wait for a coach come to you at once.

From Approve a registration

You cannot approve the registration until the family pays this season's fee, unless the fee schedule is pay as you go. The status shows Awaiting payment until then. The club holds the place for a number of days. A person with the View finance permission can see every unpaid registration, and chase it, in Chase unpaid registrations.

From Approve a registration

Select Registrations in the menu, then FA Club Portal entry. Select Open beside the player. The page shows the photo and the proof of identity. It lists the players who are ready for you.

In the registration queue, the three dots menu on a row also has Download photo and Download proof of identity.

From Approve a registration

1. In the registration queue, select the players.
2. Select Download photos and ID for the FA Club Portal.

You get one zip file. Each file has the name of the player and their date of birth, for example Smith_Jack_14-03-2015.jpg. A proof of identity ends in _ID. Upload each file to the player on the FA Club Portal.

From Approve a registration

Use FA Club Portal entry. When you select Tick off, Sideline records that the player is registered on the FA Club Portal, with the date and your name. The player's record shows it under FA Club Portal.

If you confirmed the registration from the queue, open the player in Players and select Mark as registered on the FA Club Portal.

From Approve a registration

Sideline tells you before you confirm. For example, the form says the new team takes you to 10 teams while the plan covers 9. When you confirm, the plan moves up to the new number.

From Change your Sideline plan

Yes, but not below the teams you have now. Retire the teams first, then lower the plan.

From Change your Sideline plan

Yes. Sideline emails the person who pays 2 days and 7 days after the registration was submitted, if it is still unpaid. One email covers every unpaid child of that person. Reminders stop while a request for help to pay is open.

From Chase unpaid registrations

The list shows Hold ended. Sideline does not release the place. You decide whether to chase the family, waive the fee or withdraw the registration.

From Chase unpaid registrations

No. You cannot confirm a registration until the first payment is made, waived or deferred, or the Direct Debit is set up. Only a confirmed player can be picked for a match.

From Chase unpaid registrations

The app thinks the player may be registered twice. Select Open in full site and check the player there before you confirm.

From Confirm or reject registrations on your phone

No. To ask a parent for a new photo or proof of identity, use the full site. See Approve a registration.

From Confirm or reject registrations on your phone

The player may be registered twice. Check the player in the full site.

From Confirm or reject registrations on your phone

You changed the leaving date. The amount owed depends on the date, so the screen shows the new amount first. Check it, then select Confirm the leave again.

From Confirm that a player has left, on your phone

Select Email contacts about this balance to email the family about it. A leave with money owed needs someone who can override payments, such as your treasurer. They see a box to leave the player anyway.

From Confirm that a player has left, on your phone

Yes. The full site uses the same rules and sends the same email.

From Confirm that a player has left, on your phone

The first time, Sideline confirms your email and signs you in. The second time, Sideline confirms your email again and asks you to sign in.

From Create your club

Sideline uses the name to match your fixtures on FA Full-Time. If the name is different, fixtures do not match.

From Create your club

Yes. See Change your Sideline plan.

From Create your club

If you tick all four boxes, AI paste is on from the start, and the paste steps in your setup checklist open straight away. You still check every suggestion before Sideline saves it. If you leave the boxes empty, Sideline asks you the same four questions the first time you paste. Any Owner can turn AI paste off in Settings, AI.

From Create your club

No. Sign in first. Sideline takes you from the plan page straight to the club form.

From Create your club

Sideline skips games in the past, games with no date yet, and games between two other clubs. A game is skipped as another club's game when neither team name contains your club's name. It tells you how many it skipped.

From Get your fixtures in from FA Full-Time

FA Full-Time shows 07:00 for a game with no kickoff time yet. Sideline treats that as not set and shows Time TBC. When the league sets a real time, import the page again.

From Get your fixtures in from FA Full-Time

A postponed or void game that is not in Sideline is not added. A game you already have is listed under In Sideline but no longer on Full-Time, so you decide what to do.

From Get your fixtures in from FA Full-Time

Yes. Sideline does not add a game twice. It changes the kickoff time of a game you have not put on a pitch, and it tells you about the others.

From Get your fixtures in from FA Full-Time

Sideline says so and imports nothing. Save the page again from FA Full-Time. A page that says "Attention Required" is a "check your browser" page, not your fixtures. Open the fixtures page, wait for it to load, and save it again.

From Get your fixtures in from FA Full-Time

No. Parents register their own children, which is how consent works. Sideline does not send a sheet with dates of birth or parent columns.

From Import your own spreadsheet

Not yet. Invite officials from the Officials step, or use the workbook. See Set up your club from a workbook.

From Import your own spreadsheet

The workbook and the other ways always work.

From Import your own spreadsheet

A team needs a plan, a head coach with full details, and an affiliation number or a record that it affiliates later. The row says which is missing.

From Open registration for your teams

Yes. Open a team from its own page, or open them all together here.

From Open registration for your teams

A phone is easy to lose or to read over a shoulder. The app shows only that something is waiting. Open the full site to see the case.

From See welfare alerts on your phone

No. All work on a case is in the full site.

From See welfare alerts on your phone

You see alerts only when you can open every welfare case in the club. If the club gave you access to one case only, you see that case in the full site, but no alerts.

From See welfare alerts on your phone

You can send one reminder to a family each day. This stops a family getting the same email twice, for example when two officials act at the same time.

From Send a payment reminder or record a cash payment on your phone

You can see the list, but you do not have the permission to send reminders or record payments. Ask your treasurer or the club owner.

From Send a payment reminder or record a cash payment on your phone

Open the family's account in the full site and reverse the payment. You give a reason, and the charges are owed again.

From Send a payment reminder or record a cash payment on your phone

A season is the stretch of time your teams play and parents sign up for, for example 2026/27, 1 September to 31 May. Fees, teams and registrations all belong to a season. Most clubs pick the shared season. Name your own only for something with different dates, for example a summer league.

From Set up your club from a workbook

Yes. Each workbook adds new records. It cannot change a team, league or fee that already exists. If a row uses a name that is already in use, the check page tells you.

From Set up your club from a workbook

Add the coach to the Officials tab with the same email address, or ask them to join your club first. Then check the file again.

From Set up your club from a workbook

Undo the whole set-up from the result page or from Recent bulk changes. Sideline keeps anything that is already in use. You can also change any single record on its own screen.

From Set up your club from a workbook

FA Full-Time is where leagues publish fixtures, results and tables. Sideline matches your fixtures on FA Full-Time by the team names and your club's name. If a name is different, the fixtures for that team do not match.

From Set up your club with the setup checklist

A team opens to parents when it has a plan and a head coach with full details. Your club must also have a badge, the required officials and a payment account. The opening check shows what is missing.

From Set up your club with the setup checklist

No. A step that waits for another step says which one. Select Open it anyway to go on.

From Set up your club with the setup checklist

It counts the step as done. Your club then shows its initials instead of a badge. The Dashboard keeps offering the badge until you add one.

From Set up your club with the setup checklist

Yes. Nothing is charged until a parent registers. To change which teams have a plan, select Choose teams on the plan.

From Set up your subs and fees

Yes. A parent picks one plan when they register. For example, you can offer a monthly plan and a yearly plan.

From Set up your subs and fees

A team with no plan cannot open. Add a plan and tick the team.

From Set up your subs and fees