Small-sided football game with end zones

A small-sided football game is a fun way to develop key skills like passing, teamwork, and positional awareness in an engaging and competitive environment. This drill uses end zones to encourage precision in possession, quick decision-making, and smooth transitions between defence and attack. This exercise offers an excellent balance of fun and tactical improvement.

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, you can practice with as little as 3 players per side if you struggle for numbers.

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 to avoid players standing as goalkeepers in front of the goals.

Rules

This is a simple football game. The game’s main objective 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’s 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 an open space is found for scoring. When in defence, the team has to be well organised 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 to win in this game is for players to improve 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.
• Teamwork is encouraged over individual efforts because each player has limited touches, and everyone has to touch the ball before their team can score.
• Transitioning from defence into attack. Constantly hoofing the ball away to defend will make it harder for a team to complete the number of passes required to score. Therefore, the team must move from defence to attack in an orderly manner.
• Players positioning. To keep possession of the ball, players must move in a block and be close to each other. When in defence, 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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