Small football game with end zones

This is a simple football game with end zones and 4 goals. The main objectives of the game are to practice possession football in attack, and good positioning when defending.

Setup

This football game doesn’t require an actual football pitch. You can play it anywhere that you have enough space. Ideally, this game should be played with 10 players. However, if you are struggling for numbers, you can practice with as little as 3 players per side.

You need 4 small goals and a good number of cones to mark the field and the zones as shown in the picture above. If you don’t have small goals, use some cones to create the goals. Form an arch in front of the goals using some of the cones. This area is a no-entry zone used to avoid players standing as goalkeepers in front of the goals.

Rules

This is a simple football game. The main objective of the game is to keep possession of the ball by using accurate passing and good positioning in the field. In addition to the usual football rules, follow these basic rules:

• 2 teams of 3 to 5 players each.
• Each team defends two goals.
• Each team attacks the opposition two goals.
• Players can score in any of the 2 goals.
• Players can only score while in the end zone.
• Everyone in the team must touch the ball before scoring.
• Only 3 touches are allowed (e.g.: 1 touch to control the ball, 1 touch to change direction and 1 touch to pass the ball).
• Defenders are not allowed inside the small zones in front of the goals.

Takeaways

The main objective of this exercise is to keep possession of the ball until finding an open space to score. When in defence, the team has to be well organised in order to defend both goals. There are many skills that this game covers:

• Passing. The rules of the game focus on passing. You can only score after everyone has touched the ball. Therefore, the only way of winning at this game is by players improving their passing technique.
• Finishing. The game is played with small goals and teams can only score in the end zones. Therefore, this exercise encourages clinical finishing over power.
• Team work. Because each player has limited touches and everyone has to touch the ball before their team can score, team work is encouraged over individual efforts.
• Transitioning from defense into attack. Constantly hoofing the ball away to defend will make it harder for a team to complete the number of passes required in order to score. Therefore the team must move from defense into attack in an orderly manner.
• Players positioning. In order to keep possession of the ball, players have to move in a block and be close to each other. When in defense, the team has to be organised to avoid leaving one of the goals unprotected.

Pablo Matamoros

I am a software engineer with 25+ years of experience across diverse industries. I've climbed the corporate leader over the years, which has some benefits but means I moved away from my love for tinkering with technology. So, I build the odd website or application to keep learning and stay in touch with technology. FootballTechniques allows me to combine my programming knowledge with my passion for football.

To find out more about my professional experience, visit PabloMatamoros.com

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