Participatory Football and Social Development: Evaluating the Impact of football3 on and Off the Pitch

ABSTRACT Sport for development (SFD) is a field that leverages sport to advance social development goals. Participatory and sport‐didactical approaches, such as football3, prioritise social outcomes over competitive success. However, evidence of their effectiveness remains limited. This study presents results from a field experiment in Bulgaria, comparing schoolchildren engaged in the participatory football3 method to peers playing traditional football. We assess both on‐pitch and off‐pitch outcomes relevant to SFD, including life skills, social awareness, and school adaptation. Findings show that football3 encourages values like respect over excellence but also increases on‐pitch conflict. Off the pitch, we observe mixed results: modest improvements in school adaptation, declines in some life skills, and mostly no effects on social awareness. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's .