In the early days of association football, friendly matches (or "friendlies") were the most common type of match. However since the development of The Football League in England in 1888, league tournaments became established, in addition to lengthy cup tournaments. By the turn of the millennium, national leagues were established in almost every country, as well as regional leagues for lower level teams, thus the significance of friendlies has seriously declined since the 19th century.

Today most club sides play a number of friendlies before the start of each season (called pre-season friendlies). Friendly football matches are considered to be non-competitive and are only used to 'warm up' players for a new season/competitive match. There is generally nothing competitive at stake and some rules may be changed or experimented with (such as unlimited substitutions and no cards). Although most friendlies are simply one-off matches arranged by the clubs themselves, in which a certain amount is paid by the challenger club to the incumbent club, some teams do compete in short tournaments, such as the Emirates Cup, Teresa Herrera Trophy and the Amsterdam Tournament. Although these events may involve sponsorship deals and the awarding of a trophy and may even be broadcast on television, there is little prestige attached to them.

International teams also play friendlies, generally in preparation for the qualifying or final stages of major tournaments. This is essential, since national squads generally have much less time together in which to prepare. The biggest difference between friendlies at the club and international levels is that international friendlies mostly take place during club league seasons, not between them. This has on occasion led to disagreement between national associations and clubs as to the availability of players, who could become injured or fatigued in a friendly.

International friendlies give team managers the opportunity to experiment with team selection and tactics before the tournament proper, and also allow them to assess the abilities of players they may potentially select for the tournament squad. Players can be booked in international friendlies, and can be suspended from future international matches based on red cards or accumulated yellows in a specified period. Caps and goals scored also count towards a player's career records. In 2004, FIFA ruled that substitutions by a team be limited to six per match in international friendlies, in response to criticism that such matches were becoming increasingly farcical with managers making as many as 11 substitutions per match.

In the UK and Ireland, "exhibition match" and "friendly match" refer to different types of matches. The types described above as friendlies are not termed exhibition matches, while annual all-star matches such as those held in the US MLS or Japan's J. League are called exhibition matches rather than friendly matches. A one-off match for charitable fundraising, usually involving one or two all-star teams, or a match held in honour of a player for service to his/her club, may be described as exhibition matches but they are normally referred to as Charity football matches and testimonial matches respectively.