How to Choose Football Trophies for Your Club

Step 1: Decide what each trophy is for

Write down every award you plan to give, then group them into three tiers. Participation awards go to every player. Named awards go to a few players per team. Club honours are the big ones, such as Club Player of the Year, and are sometimes kept by the club as perpetual trophies.

Each tier should look and feel different. If your Players' Player of the Season trophy is the same size as the participation award, the moment loses its weight.

It also helps to decide early whether any award is perpetual. A perpetual trophy is handed back each year and re-engraved with the new winner, so it needs a larger base or a shield with plenty of space. Individual keepsake trophies, on the other hand, only need room for one name and one season.

Step 2: Choose a football trophy style

• Player figures – male and female player figures on a base are the classic choice for named awards.
• Boot and ball designs – a golden boot is the natural pick for top goalscorer.
• Goalkeeper gloves – a fun, specific design for Goalkeeper of the Season.
• Football cups – a traditional cup signals a team or league honour.
• Shields and plaques – ideal for perpetual awards with room for names each year.
• Glass or crystal – a premium option for long-service, volunteer or club milestone awards.

Step 3: Pick the right material

Most football trophies are resin, metal-effect plastic or a combination on a weighted base. Resin gives detailed sculpted figures at a sensible price and suits most grassroots budgets. Metal cups feel more substantial and traditional. Glass and acrylic awards are sleek and engrave beautifully, but they're best kept for adults rather than young children.

Think about who is receiving the trophy and how it will travel. A young player carrying an award across a car park needs something sturdy with a solid base, while an adult award that will sit in a club cabinet can be more delicate. If you want to dig deeper, our guide to glass vs acrylic vs metal awards compares them side by side.

Step 4: Get the sizes right

Height is the easiest way to show hierarchy. Many ranges come in several sizes of the same design, so you can give the Player of the Season the tallest version and use the smaller versions for other named awards.

For young children, a smaller trophy they can carry is often better than a huge one they'll drop on the way to the car. For adult teams, a mid-height trophy usually looks right on a shelf. Our trophy sizes guide goes into this in more detail.

Step 5: Check engraving space and personalisation

Every product on our site lists its engraving lines and characters per line. A small trophy might suit just a name and year, while a larger one can fit the club name, award title, player name and season.

If you want your club crest included, mention it when you ask for a quote. Free engraving is included on qualifying orders, so a personalised plate on every trophy rarely adds much to the overall cost.

Common mistakes to avoid

Most trophy disappointments come from a handful of avoidable slips. Spend five minutes checking these before you send your order and you'll save yourself a stressful week.

• Choosing from photos alone – check the listed height so the trophy isn't smaller than you expected.
• Mixing male and female figures by accident – confirm which figure each player should receive.
• Leaving engraving wording until the last minute – it's the step that most often causes delays.
• Ordering team by team – separate small orders miss out on the discount a combined club order gets.
• Forgetting spares – a couple of extra unengraved trophies cover late sign-ups and breakages.

Step 6: Set your budget and order as a club

Football trophies on our site range from around £5.50 up to £105, and a typical design is around £11. These are catalogue prices before any discount. We beat catalogue prices, and the bigger your order, the bigger your discount – roughly at 25+, 50+ and 100+ items.

That's why it usually pays to place one order for every team in the club rather than letting each manager buy separately. Send us your list on WhatsApp – team names, numbers and the trophies you like – and we'll come back with a free quote.

As T C from CPD Dyffryn & Tal y Bont put it: “Fantastic quality trophies the kids loved them!”