Football opportunities in Lima are plentiful. The city is littered with pitches. It will often just be a case of meeting the right people or finding the right WhatsApp group to play regular casual/pick-up football in Lima. (I’ll share one such group below). The good news for long-term expats looking to play competitive football is that Lima is large enough to accommodate amateur football leagues, some aimed specifically at expats.
Competitive expat football in Lima
If there’s an overseas sporting match or event on, there’s a good chance you will wind up at Molly’s (just off Parque Kennedy) to watch it. The 2023 Champions League Final brought me to Molly’s for the first time. Molly’s also sponsors Kiteflyers FC, an expat football and cricket team.
Kiteflyers plays in two Lima football leagues. If you’re in your twenties or early thirties, you may have to look into other leagues or tournaments because the Liga de Las Naciónes, for example, is only for over thirties, whilst Kiteflyers only participates in the over 35s category of another tournament.
What are some local football tournaments?
Liga Metropolitana Masfutbol
A glance at their Facebook page suggests that the Liga Metropolitana Masfutbol is the football league to be involved in Lima for expats. Prize money, linesmen, recorded games, pre-match interviews: this must be the closest these players will get to feeling like pros! Games are streamed live on YouTube with commentary; there are even slick, professional-style match highlights uploaded to the Facebook page. All for an amateur football league!
There are two categories: Libre (Open) and Máster 35 (Over 35s). They are 11-a-side leagues with 25-minute halves. Kiteflyers participates in the Máster 35 edition and began their 2025 campaign in February alongside 10 other teams. The final, which they lost to Familia Boys, took place in April.
The 2025 Máster 35 summer edition of the Liga Metropolitana Masfutbol began with 12 teams divided into two groups
The Libre summer tournament started in March, with 16 teams divided into four groups. As with most leagues and competitions in South American sports, there are apertura and clausura stages.
Games take place on Sundays at three different locations in San Miguel, San Isidro and Chorillos.
Liga de las Naciónes
La Liga de las Naciónes is billed as the “World Cup of Foreign Communities”. It’s an annual 11-a-side football tournament for expats over 30 that pits the different international communities living in Lima against each other. Teams are made up of expats from foreign companies, embassies, sports clubs etc who represent their individual countries.
The 2024 edition saw teams from Spain, Costa Rica and Japan, to name but three, compete for “world” glory.
Your best bet for finding a football team that plays in these tournaments is to check out the social media of these two tournaments and search for teams that way. People sometimes comment on the Liga Metropolitana Masfutbol Facebook page to say that they are looking for a team to join, but I don’t know how much player recruitment is done over there.
What sport do you want to play?
What are some Lima expat football teams?
Kiteflyers FC
info@kiteflyersfc.com
Kiteflyers is a long-established Lima expat football team that dates back to 1981. I believe there is often a strong British and Irish playing contingent, which makes sense given their sponsor. Their football season typically kicks off in February, and things wind down by the end of November. In the off-season, they might have the odd friendly or training session.
Kiteflyers lined up before a 2025 league fixture
For now, Kiteflyers is the only Lima expat football team for which I have details.
Casual/Pickup football in Lima
Peloteada is the name of the Lima Community WhatsApp group to join to play casual 6/8-a-side football games with a mix of Peruvians and foreigners.
Are you part of the Lima Community on WhatsApp yet? Make sure you are - 33 groups and counting! Join the community and scroll down to find the Peloteada group.
Peloteada is a big group with a core of regular players who also socialise with each other after games.
Here are the details for a weekly 6-a-side football game in Lince:
Just look out for an announcement about an upcoming game and add your name to the list. Games are organised three times a week: Tuesdays and Thursdays at DeporPlaza Costa Verde in Magdalena (8-a-side), and Sundays at DeporPlaza Matamula in Lince (6-a-side). Other times, someone will post in the group that they are looking for one or two extra players to make up numbers for a game elsewhere.
Do you play football in Lima?
Do you want to see your team/league listed here?
What sport do you want to play?