History of club – Walking Football Spain

Walking Football Spain started in June 2017

It was a hot Thursday evening, 3 years ago, when 6 of us met for the first time under the guidance of Adam Chandler- the founder.

We looked at this strange round object- kicked it around a bit- chatted about the objects – went home and ached having used muscles that had forgotten they existed
The following week more players turned up and we went from strength to strength.

We used to kick off at 11 am and it got very hot at Elviria, so there was talk about stopping in the summer but as the group grew we decided to carry on.
Numbers grew so we started an evening session at Benalmadena and then added San Pedro/Benahavis.
The evening at Benalmadena later changed to Monday morning at the new venue.

At this time WFS was being run as a business. There was an ownership change a couple of years later when Brian Gregory acquired the business, and again in 2019. At this point, WFS became a private not-for-profit club run for the benefits of its membership. This is overseen by a Coordination Group comprising representatives from each venue.

Walking Football Spain (WFS) was set up in 2017 on the Costa del Sol in the region of Andalucia in Spain.

WFS is a Private Members Club

From that slow beginning our numbers have grown from the 6 pioneers to over 130 playing at Benalmadena and Retamar

When we started it was any touch but the huge difference in ages ability fitness etc gave rise to uneven games
and so 3 touch football was introduced together with no bodily contact or tackling from behind

Also st the start most of us had injuries -hospital visits etc We started proper warming up/ stretching before playing and this really reduced the number of injuries.

We believe that we are the pre-eminent walking football club in Southern Spain and enter teams in competitive events aiming to back up that position

Our sessions provide our members with the opportunity to play football again after years of simply watching it and with a social occasion to meet and make new friends.

were standardised and rules were established.

We operate as a non-profit private members’ club. Currently, we have over 70 members in the age range 50-80 years from a variety of nationalities.