Stadium jobs for 16 and 17 year olds – what you can and cannot do

Yes, 16 and 17 year olds can work at UK stadiums – but not in the roles most adverts are selling. Bar work, alcohol service and licensed security are 18+. The jobs that actually take 16–17 year olds are food kiosks, some retail, some junior stewarding, and a handful of runner or cleaning shifts. University students who are 18+ can apply for almost everything; the limit is usually hours and availability, not age.

If you searched “stadium jobs for 16 year olds” or “Wembley jobs for students”, this is the split that matters.

The short version

Operators set their own floors on top of the law. Plenty of kiosk adverts still say 18+ even when a 16-year-old could legally do the work. Read the live advert – “18+” on the listing wins over this guide.

Can a 16 year old work at a football stadium?

Yes, once you have reached school leaving age (the last Friday in June of the school year you turn 16). In England you still have to stay in some form of education or training until 18, but weekend and event-day work alongside college is normal.

What the law actually blocks at 16–17:

• Selling alcohol. You must be 18. That knocks out almost every bar job and many hospitality roles where drinks service is part of the shift.
• SIA licensing. You must be 18 to hold a Door Supervisor licence, so search-and-screen and licensed security are closed.
• Young-worker hours. Under the Working Time Regulations, 16–17 year olds are generally limited to 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with 12 hours’ rest between shifts and a break after 4.5 hours. Night work is restricted (normally 10pm–6am, with a catering exception that can run to midnight). A typical Saturday catering shift of 11:00–20:00 can fit; a concert that keeps staff on site until 00:30 often will not.

Confirm current rules on GOV.UK child employment and maximum weekly working hours – operators will apply whichever is stricter, their policy or the law.

Roles that do hire 16 and 17 year olds

These are the ones worth applying for. None of them need experience.

• Food kiosks and confectionery. Hot dogs, pies, soft drinks, ice cream – no alcohol. This is the largest 16–17 intake. Training is short; the work is standing, repetitive and busiest at half-time. See kiosk vs stewarding vs hospitality.
• Retail and programmes. Club shops and programme sellers on the concourse. Age policies vary by club; local 16+ hiring is more common than people think, especially at grounds with a community-staffing commitment.
• Junior / event stewarding. Unlicensed stewarding (ticket checks, wayfinding, watching a stairwell) is not an SIA role. Some operators, including Showsec at Wembley, advertise junior steward routes from 16 with restrictions – no ejections, no search-and-screen, earlier finishes. Many other steward adverts are 18+ only. Check the listing.
• Runners and kitchen porters. Moving stock, plating, washing up. Useful way into a catering operator before you turn 18 and can move onto a bar.
• Some cleaning and FM. Pre-event cleans more than post-concert close-down, because of the late finish.

Roles that almost never hire under 18

• Bar staff – alcohol. The Wembley bar and Old Trafford bar listings are typical: 18+.
• Premium hospitality / lounge host – drinks service and later finishes. The Tottenham hospitality and St James’ Park hospitality roles sit here.
• SIA door supervisor, search and response – 18+ by licence, not just policy.
• Most concert stewarding after 22:00 – young-worker night limits plus operator insurance.

If a search result says “Tottenham stadium jobs for 16 year olds” and the page is a hospitality host vacancy, that is the wrong role. Look for kiosk, retail or junior steward instead.

What it pays in 2026

From 1 April 2026, the National Minimum Wage floors are:

Some operators pay 16–17 year olds the age-banded rate. Others pay the same kiosk rate they pay everyone on that unit. Ask before you accept the shift – the difference on a nine-hour Saturday is roughly £72 vs £114 gross. Full context is in how much stadium stewards get paid in 2026.

Holiday pay still accrues for casuals under 18. You should also be on PAYE with a National Insurance number; if you do not have one yet, apply on GOV.UK before or as you start.

Students: sixth form, university, and visas

Sixth form and college (16–18). Treat this as weekend and holiday work. Apply for food kiosks and junior stewarding. Do not plan on midweek 19:45 European nights until you are 18 and can legally do the finish time. Availability on home Saturdays is what catering operators actually screen for.

University students (18+). You can do the full set: kiosk, bar, hospitality, unlicensed stewarding. Stadium work fits term time unusually well – one Saturday or midweek evening at a time, paid weekly or fortnightly, no guaranteed hours so you can drop shifts around exams. The catch is the same as for everyone else: reliability. No-shows at 18 get you dropped from the pool as fast as they do at 35.

Best application windows for students, from the hiring calendar:

1. March–April – summer concert season (Wembley, Tottenham, Etihad campus / Co-op Live, Hampden). This is the one that lines up with the university year.
2. June–July – football-season pool rebuild. Apply before you go home for summer if you want August–May shifts in your university city.
3. September–October – second-chance window when student no-shows open gaps.

Manchester is the easiest city to combine with student life: Old Trafford, the Etihad and Co-op Live are all a short tram ride from the main student neighbourhoods. London has more hours but longer late-night journeys – fix the last train before you book a 23:00 finish, as covered in your first matchday shift.

Student visa. Term-time work is usually capped at 20 hours a week across every job you hold, with full-time work in official vacations. A single stadium shift is often 8–10 hours, so two shifts in the same week can already use the cap. Tell the operator you are on a Student visa during onboarding – they are required to check, and right-to-work failures are the main reason applications stall.

How to apply when you are 16 or 17

The club still does not hire you. Apply to the catering or stewarding operator named on the venue page.

1. Pick a kiosk, retail or junior steward listing, not a bar or lounge host.
2. Have a passport (or share code) and National Insurance number ready. Some operators also want a parent or guardian contact for under-18s.
3. Be honest about age and finish times. If you cannot legally work past 22:00, say so – a supervisor would rather roster you on a 15:00 kick-off than have you walk off a concert.
4. Go to a venue recruitment day if there is one. Age questions get resolved on the spot; portal applications from 16-year-olds are the ones most likely to sit unanswered.
5. Once you are 18, ask to move onto the bar or to start the SIA pathway. Operators prefer promoting people they already know.

If the advert says 18+ and you are 16

Do not apply anyway hoping they will not notice. Right-to-work and payroll checks capture date of birth. Write to the staffing team (or ask at a recruitment day) whether they run a 16+ kiosk or junior steward pool at that venue. Some do – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’s local-hiring push and Wembley’s junior steward route are the examples we see most often in search – and some do not. One email beats ten rejected applications.

Disclaimer. Age limits mix statute (alcohol, SIA, young-worker hours) with each operator’s insurance and safety certificate. This is general information for UK applicants, not legal advice. Confirm the age on the live vacancy and check GOV.UK before you accept a shift.