Running a Family Prediction League

To run a family prediction league: keep the rules simple, pick fixtures everyone watches together, use light handicaps for the youngest players, and agree the prizes upfront so nobody argues about it on Boxing Day. Sign up to ScoreBadger as a free league (5 members) or upgrade to Premium for up to 50 if you have a big extended family.

A family prediction league is one of the most underrated ways to add a bit of structured fun to a season of football watching. It works across generations, fits naturally around weekend matches, and creates the kind of low-stakes rivalry that makes a Sunday roast more entertaining.

Why Families and Prediction Leagues Go Together

Families already watch football together - it is one of the few activities that genuinely spans every age group from 8 to 80. Adding predictions just turns the watching into a shared game. Nobody has to be an expert. The Premier League's average sits around 2.7 to 2.8 goals per game, and roughly a quarter of matches end in draws, which means even occasional viewers can have a decent guess. We covered this angle in our piece on prediction games for kids and families.

The trick is making sure nobody feels excluded - which usually means the youngest and the least football-obsessed family members.

Keep the Rules Brutally Simple

This is the single biggest factor in whether a family league works or quietly dies after three weeks. Keep the scoring system to the absolute minimum:

• Predict the final score before kick-off
• Exact score = 3 points
• Correct result (right winner or draw, wrong score) = 1 point
• Wrong = 0 points
• Highest total at the end of the month/season wins

That is it. Resist the urge to add bonus points for predicting goalscorers, half-time scores, or anything clever. The whole point is that Auntie Sue who watches one match a year can play on equal footing with the nephew who plays Football Manager every night.

Mixing Ages With Light Handicaps

If you have a big age gap in the family - say, a 9-year-old playing against three uncles - a tiny handicap keeps things fair without being patronising. Some options that work: