Increase in maximum team size #soccer-rules-2026

[david]

Note: This is copied from the example I made in the main rules discussion thread here. I will quote the actual posts asking for this below, please don’t read this as me claiming this as my idea in any way.

Proposed change

I would like to allow teams of any size in RoboCupJunior Soccer.

Reson for change

Describe why you would like to see this change implemented. Example: We are a larger group and we could build a much better robot if we were able to join as a team of 7 people.

Advantages

List the advantages of the new rule change.

• Teams of 8 are easy to split into 4+4, splitting a team of 5 into 2+3 doesn’t really yield two large enough teams.
• More advanced robots could be built
• Beginner teams can achieve more because they have more people to split all the new challenges with
• Maybe teams can finally all read all of the rules and not be surprised when referees show them where it says they can’t do/have to do something

Disadvantages

Please list the disadvantages of the new rule change - even ones that you think aren’t big deals.

• More floor space needed at competition
• More difficult to talk to everyone at interviews
• Maybe people get added to teams that don’t really have anything technical to do

Effects on other aspects of the competition

Please list any effects on other rules or aspects of the competition.

• Does not really apply in this case (I think)

[david]

From the main thread:

@stiebel

I post another topic here:
Teams-Size
I asked for that before, but that was the wrong time and place.
Here and now I would like to ask for a rule change for team-size.

In the two highest leagues 2vs2 soccer we have older students that work together even if not at the same grade.
So if one or two quit playing soccer junior we sometime end with only five students left for the next season.
While 3 build a team, two are not enough.
So 6 students are fine to build two teams but 5 students have a problem. Increasing the team members to 5 just for the top leagues would solve the problem.
Thanks for considering this idea.
Roland

And there is a thread discussing this for the 2025 season leading to this being a topic for 2026 rules.

[Nawin]

I highly support this idea, as a mentor I have also encountered the problems described by Roland regarding teamsize. To add to that, it is not only the numbers that make it sometimes difficult to form capable teams but also the individual roles. For example, in our team we have dedicated software, electrical and mechanical roles. A good functioning RCJ team should consist of a decent mix of these roles. But in my case the software role is by far the most popular. In the situation where I have in total 6 students that like to do software it is hard for me to divide them into 3 teams as there are not enough mechanical/electrical students to form capable teams with. Having the limit increased to 5 students would give me more headroom to shuffle students around and makes it less likely that I have to end up signing students up as visitors during the competition.