Build Your Own Soccer Goal

It’s so much fun to spend the warm month of July outdoors with friends and family. And what better way to get everyone together than playing a game like soccer? You can make your backyard into your very own mini-soccer field with ease. Read below to learn how to build a soccer goal and how to keep your lawn in check to ensure it looks nice even after the game.

Build the Goal

This Old House provides a great overview for building a simple goal for your backyard that takes only a few hours and won’t break the bank. To build the goal, you’ll need:

• A hacksaw
• Tape measure, sandpaper
• Permanent marker
• All-purpose cement
• 100' x 7' deer or wildlife netting
• 4 - 1-1/4" x 10' PVC pipes
• 6 - 1-1/4" PVC elbows
• 4 - 1-1/4" PVC tees
• 8" cable ties. (how many of these?)

Step 1: Using a hacksaw, cut the pipes into two 5' pieces, two 4' pieces, four 3' pieces, and four 1' pieces.

Step 2: Lightly sand the ends of each piece. Then fit the pieces together with PVC elbows and tees: Make the base and top assemblies following the illustration, and then join the 4' and 3' pieces to the assemblies. Add the 5' diagonal pieces to brace the goal. Note: For a permanent backyard soccer goal, add adhesive to the PVC pipes. Once you achieve the desired fit in Step 2, disassemble the goal. Then apply adhesive around the sanded ends of each pipe piece and reassemble.

Step 3: Cut a 12' length of wildlife netting. Wrap it around the exterior of the frame, and connect the netting to the pipe pieces with cable ties. Trim excess netting.

Step 4: If needed, use bricks or sandbags to weigh down the goal.

Maintain High Traffic Areas of Your Lawn

Now that you’ve built your soccer goals, you need to make sure your lawn doesn’t suffer. SFGate offers great tips for maintaining high-wear areas on grass lawns. To protect your grass, first identify the high traffic areas of your yard – typically around the new goal you just built! You can maintain the grass density by seeding or sodding the high-traffic areas, fertilizing properly and allowing areas to rest with no traffic for a couple of weeks. This may limit your game time, but it’s worth it to keep your yard looking great.

Tip: Remove gunk from the PVC valves on your soccer goal with WD-40 Multi-Use Product.