A farewell gift for a teammate is rarely planned far ahead: a move, a transfer or retirement is suddenly decided, and the team has a few weeks. The best gifts look like the team and can travel, to the new town, the new dressing room or the shelf at home. Here are ideas by occasion, for adult and children's teams, and for when the whole team is breaking up.
What do you give a teammate who is leaving?
Something that shows the role they played in the team. The goalkeeper who pumped up the balls every week, the joker in the dressing room, the captain who took every newcomer under her wing: that is exactly what belongs in the gift. More important than the price is that everyone joins in, including those who didn't know them so well.
Farewell gift for a teammate: ideas by occasion
A transfer feels different from retirement, and a move different from stepping up to the next age group. These ideas fit each reason.
Changing clubs: a scouting report from the team
Everyone writes one line as if introducing them to the new club: “Strengths: headers, dressing-room music. Weakness: punctuality.” Collected on a sheet in your club's design and framed, it becomes a gift the new team will laugh at too.
Changing clubs: a bet on the reunion
If you will be playing against each other, write a bet on a card: whoever loses the first meeting buys the drinks after the match. That turns a goodbye into a date.
Moving away: a piece of the club to take along
A club scarf, a framed photo of your home ground and an invitation to a home game next season, bratwurst included. Write the date on it straight away, and the voucher becomes an appointment.
Moving up an age group: then and now
In youth sport, one year group moves up to the next age group every year, and teams are often reshuffled in the process. A photo from your first training session together next to one from today shows how far you have come together.
Retirement: the final substitution
Have them substituted shortly before the end of their last match, so everyone on the pitch and on the touchline can applaud. Afterwards they get the boots from that match back, sprayed gold and labelled with the date and score.
When the whole team breaks up
Sometimes it isn't one person leaving but everyone: the year group is split up, the under-19s move up to the senior teams, a team disbands after its last tournament. Then the leaving gift for the team is one that everyone gets. A last evening together, a team photo for everyone and a farewell match with parents or coaches joining in all work well.
A book with everyone in it
This is where the Flashbook fits especially well: everyone gets their own double-page spread with two photos and their answers, and everyone in the book can get their own copy. At the back there are two double-page spreads for signatures and messages and at least 4 blank double-page spreads where you write to each other at your last get-together. The book holds 8 to 42 people, and the minimum order is 10 books.
If only one person is leaving, the book only works if the whole team wants a copy too, for example because the season is ending anyway. It is a shared book, not a one-off. If the coach is leaving the club along with the team, you will find ideas in our guide Coach leaving gift.
Leaving gifts in a children's football team
With children, the parents organise it, and the child who is leaving is often sadder than they let on. Keep the gift small and personal: a team photo signed by everyone, a friendship bracelet in club colours, a card on which every child draws something.
It is also lovely the other way round: the child who is leaving brings something for everyone to the last training session, muffins or a photo of themselves to keep. If a family is moving, ask the parents early when the last training day will be. Then the whole team is there, and nobody finds out afterwards that someone is missing.
A move with some friction: still saying goodbye on good terms
Not every goodbye is harmonious. When someone moves to your rivals or to a bigger club, there is sometimes disappointment in the team. A joint gift then shows that you are parting on good terms, and that is exactly what people remember. Teasing belongs in the dressing room at most, not on the card.
Who organises it, and when do you hand it over?
One person from the team or the parents takes charge, and a separate group chat without the person leaving keeps the surprise. Collect a small, equal amount per person and hand the gift over at the last training session or match, while everyone is still there. If the gift is a book, the team fills in the questionnaire first; the books arrive 5 to 7 working days after the last answers and payments.