Goals Soccer Centre is searching for sites throughout the north of England.

The Leeds office of property consultants King Sturge has been appointed to handle site identification and acquisition from the Midlands to Scotland, while the London office is responsible for the South-East and South-West.

The major expansion by Goals Soccer Centres, which this summer raised an additional £11m on the London stock market, will add to sites which already operate in Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford and Teesside.

Goals Soccer Centres already has 32 sites and a further 40 in the pipeline, with potential for an eventual 150 outlets nationally. About 20 new jobs will be created with each centre.

Nick Ferris, a partner in King Sturge's Leeds-based retail and leisure team, said: "Five-a-side football, as provided by Goals Soccer Centres, is becoming incredibly popular and is now among the fastest growing of all UK sports.

"Goals already plays host to more than 120,000 footballers a week.

"The fact that the sport is recognised by the Football Association, transcends all socio-economic groups and involves low cost per play, makes it virtually recession proof.

"This is an ideal time for the business to expand and we expect it to become increasingly popular in Yorkshire and the North-East as more sites come into operation."

The criteria for sites sought by King Sturge includes land earmarked for employment and housing as well as existing and redundant sports grounds, social clubs, spare land, open space and local authority playing fields.

Mr Ferris added: "In each case, the requirement is for a total site area of about 2.5 acres, which usually incorporates a 'state-of-the-art pavilion', 10 floodlit all-weather pitches and approximately 80 car-parking spaces."

All Goals Soccer Centre pitches are built to Football Association accreditation standard and feature 3G artificial grass which is renewed every seven years.