50 Pence - Elizabeth II 4th portrait Football (2011)

About the 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Football

The 2011 50 Pence - Elizabeth II – Football is a circulating 50 pence coin in the Olympic 50p (2011) series, struck in copper-nickel. It weighs 8g and measures 27.3mm across. Reverse design: A diagrammatic explanation of the offside rule in football, London 2012 logo above, denomination below.

1,125,500 were struck.

Common questions

History and design

The Football 50p is one of 29 designs issued for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, one for each sport. The designs came from a competition open to the general public, and the royal proclamation covering this design came into force on 12 May 2010. Every coin in the series is dated 2011.

The Royal Mint's figures give a circulating mintage of 1,125,500. That is the lowest of the 29, just under Wrestling (1,129,500), Judo (1,161,500) and Triathlon (1,163,500), and well below the most common design, Archery, at 3,345,500.

When the Royal Mint listed the ten rarest 50p coins in circulation in October 2024, the Football coin was third, behind only the 2023 Atlantic Salmon and the 2009 Kew Gardens coins.

The reverse was designed by Neil Wolfson, a sports journalist, and chosen from more than 30,000 public submissions. It does not show a player or a match. It is a diagram of a pitch that explains the offside rule in the manner of a tactics board, described in the proclamation as "a diagrammatic explanation of the offside rule in football".

Wolfson told the Royal Mint Museum that the small face of the coin meant the idea "had to be visual rather than wordy", and that the shapes chose themselves: "a circle for the ball, triangle for the attacking team and square for the defending team." The words OFFSIDE EXPLAINED appear in the design, with the London 2012 logo above and 50 PENCE below.

The obverse carries the fourth portrait of Queen Elizabeth II by Ian Rank-Broadley, in which she wears the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. The edge is plain.

Collecting notes

No varieties or mint errors are documented for this coin. Marks, discolouration and flattened detail on a circulated example are wear, not errors.

On a used coin, check that the fine lines of the pitch and the small lettering are still clear.

The proclamation also provided for a gold version of the Olympic designs. It shares the design but is separate from the 1,125,500 struck for circulation.

The coin was struck for general circulation, so it can still turn up in change. The Royal Mint says of the Wrestling coin, struck in almost the same number, that you are unlikely to find it in your pocket today. The next scarcest coin in the series is the Wrestling 50p.