¿Tus amigos juegan al fútbol? (Do your friends play soccer?) Why do we use ‘al’ before futbol, instead of ‘a el’?
it mostly depends on what it is for example if the sentance said "Tus amigos juegan a el fùtbol?" your basically saying "Do your friends play the soccer?" so if you read it in English it sonds wrong.
hope it helps :]
Honestly we people who speak Spanish fluently don't even say "al futbol" they don't say al before it.... hipe it helps