Set up your club from a workbook

The setup workbook is one Excel file with a tab for each part of your set-up. You fill it in, upload it, and Sideline creates everything at one time.

Use it when you are new to Sideline or have a lot to add at once. The normal screens still work, so you can add one team or one official by hand at any time.

Before you start

Each tab needs the same permission as the matching screen. For example, the Officials tab needs the permission to manage staff. If you lack a permission, the check page says which tab it affects. The club owner can give you the permission.

Have your lists ready: your teams, your officials and their email addresses, and your fees if you know them.

Set up your club from a workbook

Select Teams in the menu.
Select Set up from a workbook.
Select Download the workbook. The file is made for your club, so the drop-down lists show your own age groups, leagues and roles.
Open the file in Excel. Read the first tab, How to fill this in. It has an example for each tab.
Fill in the tabs you need. Leave a tab empty if you do not need it.
- Season: pick a season, or name your own with its start and end dates. A season is the stretch of time your teams play and parents sign up for, for example 2026/27, 1 August to 31 May. Most clubs pick the shared season.
- Leagues: the leagues your teams play in, with the play day.
- Fees: what your club charges, for example a season fee paid in instalments. Mark one fee as the default.
- Venues: where you play and train, with the address.
- Pitches and rooms: the pitches and rooms at each venue.
- Officials: your coaches, secretary and other club officials, with their email address and roles.
- Teams: one row for each team, with its age group and whether it is boys, girls or mixed.
- Sessions: training sessions and other regular sessions, with the day, time and venue.
Save the file, then go back to Set up your club from one workbook in Sideline.
Pick your file under Excel workbook, then select Check my workbook.

Sideline shows a result for each tab. A tab is Ready, Empty, or has problems with the row and column named. Nothing is created yet.

If a tab has problems, select Download your workbook with the problems marked. Each tab gets a red Problem column beside the rows to fix.
Fix the file and upload it again. Repeat until every tab is ready.
Select Set up my club.

The next page shows what was created, for example the number of teams and officials.

Coaches

A coach you name on the Teams or Sessions tab must be on the Officials tab, or already be a member of your club. Use the same email address in both places.

Invitations

An official with Invite now set to Yes gets an invitation by email. Sideline waits 10 minutes before it sends the invitations, so you have time to undo a mistake. A coach shows on their team straight away, even before they accept.

Undo a set-up

Select Undo this set-up on the result page. If you do it within the 10 minutes, nobody gets an email.
You can also find it later under Recent bulk changes in the club settings.

Sideline keeps anything that is already in use, for example an official who has accepted their invitation, and tells you why.

What the workbook does not do

It does not add players. Parents register their own children.
It does not open registration. Registration stays closed until you activate the season or open a team.
It does not change records that exist. If a name is already in use, the check page tells you which row.

Common questions

What is a season?

A season is the stretch of time your teams play and parents sign up for, for example 2026/27, 1 August to 31 May. Fees, teams and registrations all belong to a season. Most clubs pick the shared season. Name your own only for something with different dates, for example a summer league.

Can I use the workbook more than once?

Yes. Each workbook adds new records. It cannot change a team, league or fee that already exists. If a row uses a name that is already in use, the check page tells you.

What if I get a message that a coach cannot be found?

Add the coach to the Officials tab with the same email address, or ask them to join your club first. Then check the file again.

What if I change my mind after the set-up?

Undo the whole set-up from the result page or from Recent bulk changes. Sideline keeps anything that is already in use. You can also change any single record on its own screen.