Questions to Ask About Soccer
Twenty questions about soccer for talking to players, coaches and supporters, useful for a club interview, a podcast, or a conversation in the stands. They cover how someone came to the game, how they watch it, and what they would change about it.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Who do you support, and how did that happen?
Why ask it
The second half is the whole question. Inherited allegiances, a local ground, one televised match as a child and a relative's team all produce very different supporters, and nobody minds telling the story.
Do you play, watch, or both?
Why ask it
Worth establishing early, because the rest of the conversation should follow the answer. Players talk about their own bodies and teammates; watchers talk about tactics, atmosphere and results, and confusing the two makes for stilted questions.
What position do you play, and is it the one you would choose?
Why ask it
Many amateur players are stuck where they were once needed rather than where they want to be, usually in goal or at full back. The gap between the two answers is often a small, genuine grievance they will happily explain.
What is the first match you remember?
Why ask it
Almost always a specific, sensory memory: the walk to the ground, the noise, a parent, a bad result. It works far better than asking about a favourite match because the memory is fixed rather than chosen.
Do you go to games in person, and has that changed?
Why ask it
Ticket prices, kick-off times moved for television and the cost of travel have pushed many long-standing supporters away from grounds. The answer often turns into the most heartfelt part of the conversation.
Where do you usually watch, and who with?
Why ask it
A pub, a group chat, a sofa alone at an odd hour for a foreign league: each shapes how someone experiences the game. It also tells you whether their fandom is social or private, which most other questions will not.
Which player do you enjoy watching that most people would not notice?
Why ask it
Asking for the unnoticed player skips past the obvious names and gets a real answer about how they read the game. Holding midfielders and full backs come up constantly, and the reasons given are usually specific and technical.
What is the hardest thing about your position that people watching do not see?
Why ask it
For players this is the question that produces the best material: the constant scanning of a centre back, the loneliness of a keeper after a mistake, the running nobody credits. Coaches answer it well too.
How did your team's last match go?
Why ask it
Deliberately mundane and reliably productive, because recent results are what supporters actually want to discuss. It also calibrates the mood of the conversation before you ask anything larger.
Which rival result do you check even when your team is not playing?
Why ask it
Rivalry is more revealing than loyalty, and the specific team named tells you the geography and history of their fandom. Ask why that one and you usually get a story about a particular season.
What do you think of video review as it is being used?
Why ask it
Almost nobody is neutral, and the disagreements are interesting: people who accept it in principle and hate the implementation, people who would rather live with error. It is the most reliable argument starter in the modern game.
Have you ever changed your mind about a player you disliked?
Why ask it
Supporters commit to opinions on players early and rarely revisit them, so this asks for something uncommon. The answer usually involves either an interview, an injury, or watching them live rather than on television.
What did playing teach you that you actually use?
Why ask it
The qualifier matters, because it filters out the standard line about teamwork and discipline. Real answers tend to be oddly specific: dealing with being substituted, being coached badly, losing week after week.
Was there a coach who changed how you played?
Why ask it
Players remember one or two coaches vividly, for good reasons or bad, and the story is often about being trusted or being written off. It works with anyone who played at any level, including badly.
Which competition do you actually enjoy most, regardless of prestige?
Why ask it
Adding regardless of prestige lets people admit to preferring a lower division, a cup round or the women's game over the biggest tournament. Those answers are more honest and much more interesting.
How much attention do you pay to the women's game?
Why ask it
A fair question rather than a trap, and the answers vary from close attention to none. Those who follow it can usually explain what is different about watching it, which is worth hearing from someone who does.
What do you make of who owns your club?
Why ask it
Ownership has become a live subject for supporters, and this question separates people who follow the football from those who follow the institution. Expect strong views if the club has changed hands recently.
Is there something about how the game is run that you would change?
Why ask it
Scheduling, ticket pricing, transfer fees, youth pathways and refereeing all come up, and the choice reveals where someone's real investment lies. Ask what it would cost, and the answer becomes a proper conversation.
What do you say to someone who finds the sport boring?
Why ask it
This asks a fan to explain their own pleasure rather than defend the game's status, which produces something personal about pace, tension or the value of a goal being rare.
Which ground would you most like to see a match at?
Why ask it
A good closing question because it is hopeful and specific, and the answer is rarely the biggest stadium. Ask why that one and you usually get a story about atmosphere or a family connection.
Talking soccer with players and supporters
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Getting good answers
Establish playing or watching first
The two groups answer almost every other question differently. Ask which they are within the first minute, then keep to the questions that fit rather than moving between the two.
Ask about the specific rather than the best
Favourite player and greatest match produce rehearsed lists. First match remembered, last match watched, and the player nobody notices produce real detail.
Say what you do not know
Admitting you do not follow a league or understand a rule invites explanation, which most supporters enjoy giving. Pretending otherwise gets found out within two questions.
Follow the grievance
Where a supporter is annoyed is where the conversation has energy: ticket prices, kick-off times, ownership, refereeing. That is the thread to pull rather than steering back to something pleasant.
Adapting to the setting
- Interviewing a player: use the position questions, the coach question, and what the crowd cannot see.
- Interviewing a coach: ask about the coach who changed them, then about what they would change in how the game is run.
- Talking to a supporter you have just met: start with who they support and how, then the first match they remember.
- Talking to a child who plays: ask about their position and whether they would choose it, and avoid anything about elite football.
- Mixed company where allegiances differ: the review technology and ownership questions unite people who disagree about everything else.
What goes wrong
Testing their knowledge
Quizzing someone on results, statistics or historical squads turns a conversation into an examination. Nothing in this set requires them to recall a fact.
Assuming the big leagues
Plenty of people care most about a lower-division club, a national team, or the game they play on Sunday mornings. Ask what they follow before naming any competition.
Arguing rather than asking
The rivalry and review technology questions are easy to turn into a debate you wanted to have anyway. Ask, then listen to the whole answer before offering yours.
Using soccer and football interchangeably without thought
Which word you use signals where you are from and can quietly change how a supporter reads you. Match the term the person you are speaking to has used.