Category: Communication

Suitable for: all ages/experience.

Set up: use a suitable sized playing area with one cone or pole goal set in the middle (not on the end line).

Pick two teams of three or four, plus a goalkeeper.

How to play:

Both teams attack and defend the one goal.

Goals can be scored from either side of the goal.

The player who has the last touch on the ball before it crosses the line is the scorer, even if it is only a slight deflection.

If a goal is scored, the game continues from the other side of the goal.

If the goalkeeper makes a save, they throw the ball to the edge of the playing area.

Objective: To improve possession, ball control, short passing, supporting the player on the ball.

Age range: U10s and upwards.

Difficulty: Medium.

Set-up: Divide your players into three teams with goalkeepers.

Set up a 40×30 playing area with goals at both ends.

Note: If you have an uneven number of players just make one or two of the teams bigger. If you have seventeen players, for example, you could have two teams of six and one team of five.

How to play:

There are only two rules:

1. When the ball goes over a sideline, the team that put the ball out of play leaves the field and the waiting team comes on.

2. If a goal is scored, the team that conceded the goal goes off and the waiting team comes on.

The team that wins the most games in 20 minutes is the winner.

Coaching notes:

To begin with, there is a lot of coming and going as players play the game normally, i.e., without too much thought as to the consequences of allowing the ball to go out of play.

After a while, however, they begin to put a lot of effort into keeping the ball. Short passes and close support should begin to replace hopeful kicks upfield.

You will also see players try to win the game by kicking the ball off an opponent and into touch!

It’s also in a team’s best interests to take lots of shots. If it scores, it wins the game but if it misses and the ball goes over the end line, it stays on anyway. However, its opponent will have to go off if it blocks the shot and the ball goes over a sideline.

Progression: Make the playing area smaller (makes the game harder) and/or reduce the number of touches each player is allowed.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Objective: To improve passing, movement off the ball and teamwork.

Age group: U7s to U12s.

Equipment required: Some flat cones, three balls, training vests in two colours.

Set-up:

• Create a 25-yard square playing area.
• Divide your players into a team of four (the attackers) and a team of two (the defenders).
• If you have more than six players, vary the numbers in each team or (preferably) set up two playing areas.
• Balance two balls on top of flat cones and place them in two corners of the playing area.

How to play:

• The attacking team’s objective is to knock the two balls off the cones.
• The defending team protects the balls by blocking shots, tackling and trying to gain possession of the ball.
• Play for two minutes. If the attacking team succeeds in knocking both balls off, it earns a point.
• If defenders can hold the attackers at bay for two minutes, they get a point.

Coaching points:

Attackers

• Good movement off the ball.
• Quick decisions.
• Spreading out and using the whole playing area.

Defenders

• Good communication.
• Close down the attacker with the ball quickly but don’t dive in.
• Don’t allow the attackers to split you with a pass.

Progressions/variations

1. Play 3v1.

2. A ball that is knocked off a cone is in play and can be used to knock the other ball off.

3. Add a third or fourth ball on a cone.

4. Make the playing area bigger or smaller.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Age range: U6s and upwards.

Number of players: Eight.

Set-up: Create a 30×20 playing area with two goals set in about five yards from each end line.

How to play: Divide your players into two teams of four.

Goalkeepers are optional.

Each team is given one goal to defend and one to attack.

They can score from either side of the goal.

Coaching notes: Encourage players to attack the back of the goal if their path to the front is blocked.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Objective: This game aims to improve communication and to practise defending as a team.

Age range: U9s and upwards.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Set-up: Divide your players into two, evenly matched teams.

Create a 40 yards long by 30 yards wide pitch with goals at either ends.

How to play:

• The coach picks a “ghost” player for each team.
• The opposing team does NOT know who the ghost is.
• The ghost is the only player who can score a goal.

Note: If a player other than the ghost scores, it counts as an own goal. Award a point to the other team.

Change the ghost every time he or she scores.

Coaching notes: The attacking team has to work together to create shooting opportunities for the ghost while the defence tries to figure out who the ghost is and defends, or doubles up on the ghost to prevent a goal from being scored.

Coach Nathan says: “I have a striker on my team that simply refused to pass the ball. She would rather kick the ball out of bounds before making a safe back pass. Ghost helped her learn the meaning of team work and all my girls love the game!”

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Objective: To develop football “vision”. To encourage quick passing and take goalscoring opportunities.

Age range: U7s to U14s.

Equipment: Some flat cones, training vests in two different colours, two poles, one ball.

Set-up: Place a goal made with two poles (or cones) in the centre of a 30-yard square.

Divide your players into two teams plus one goalkeeper.

How to play: Both teams try to score in the goal.

• Goals can be scored from either side.

The goalkeeper is neutral and tries to save shots from both teams.

• Play for a set time or until one team scores a certain number of goals.

Progression/variations:

• Play with uneven teams (i.e. 5v3) to encourage players to make use of a numerical advantage.
• Play with three teams instead of two.
• Each team has a target player. These are the only players who can score.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Objective: To practise all the usual elements of a SSG: passing, receiving and support play. It also makes your players react to a sudden change of objective. One moment they can be trying to score in a goal, the next moment they are trying to dribble or pass the ball into space.

Create a 40 yards long by 30 yards wide playing area with a goal at each end. The playing area also has two five-yard-wide channels (end zones) marked parallel to the side lines.

Play with two teams of four players or four outfield players plus goalkeepers.

How to play: The objective for each team is to try to score in the goals or stop the ball in an end zone, depending on which game you tell them to play.

For the first three or four minutes they play “normal” football then you call out “end zones” or “change”. Now they score a “goal” by stopping the ball in an end zone.

The first team to score five goals is the winner.

Tips: If a team scores in a goal when they are supposed to trying to stop the ball in an end zone, that’s an “own goal” – a point to the other team.

The first time you change the game, tell your players which end zone or goal they are attacking but only tell them once.

Progression: Limit your players to three touches.

Put a target player in each end zone whose job it is to receive a pass when the end zone game is being played. In the two-goal game, goals can only be scored if the move includes a pass to the target player.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.

Objective: To improve passing, shooting, communication and possession skills.

The players’ objective: To score or keep possession of the ball.

Age range: U9s and upwards.

Difficulty: Medium.

Set-up: Create a 40 yards long by 30 yards wide playing area with a small goal in each corner.

This game is played between two uneven teams. In youth football jargon that means you play it “numbers up”.

So you need to divide your players into one team of four or five and one team of two or three.

Tip: The younger or less experienced your players, the more uneven the teams need to be. With U9s, I usually start with 5v2.

How to play:

• Each team defends and attacks two goals.
• The team with the most players has to put three or four passes together before they can shoot.
• The smaller team can shoot as soon as it gets the ball.
• If the ball goes out of play, possession is always given to the larger team which passes the ball in from where it left the playing area.
• Play first to five goals wins then switch the players around.

Coaching notes: If the larger team is having difficulty keeping the ball, reduce the number of passes they have to complete or increase the number of players on their team.

If the smaller team can’t get a touch, give them more players. If they can’t get a shot in before they lose the ball, allow them to score in any of the four goals.

For more soccer coaching tips and products visit Soccer Coaching Club.