Football Drills U8+: Games, Scoring and Small-Sided Games

Choose today's session based on what your players need: more confidence on the ball, chances to shoot, or time to try out their own solutions in a game. Here are three complete sessions. You can open every on-pitch section from the drill database, and you can edit the whole plan without logging in.

U8+ is a guideline starting age. The sessions also suit older players who are working on the same skills. Choose an easier or harder version based on the players' experience.

Choose one session

The themes of these U8+ sessions are ball handling, coordination, scoring and the game. The instruction to players can be simple: dribble the ball, beat an opponent and try to score. Let players run, turn, experiment and shoot a lot. Passing is allowed, but passing and movement after a pass are not the learning aim of these sessions.

Each plan lasts about an hour. The times include short instructions, drink breaks and transitions. You can shorten a session in the planner or reuse the same plan with a small change. You do not need to do all three in consecutive sessions.

Ball handling and coordination

Choose this when the ball runs away easily or players look at their feet almost all the time. Changes of direction, stops and following another player's movement bring coordination into playing with the ball. Everyone first gets to try at their own pace, then a defender comes against them.

U8+ · 60 min

Ball Contacts and Changes of Direction

Follow the leader, try out turns and find a route past a defender. The focus is on controlling the ball on the move.

Open the complete plan without signing in. Adjust the timings and notes for your team.

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Scoring

Choose this when you want players to have lots of shots. First, players practise shooting after a dribble without a defender. Next, the player chooses which goal is worth attempting when a defender comes against them. In the final game, players have to find the shooting position themselves.

U8+ · 60 min

From dribbling to scoring

Practise shooting on the move, choose the free goal against a defender and try finishing in a small-sided game.

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Playing and finding free space

Choose this when players all go to the same spot or stand waiting for instructions once the ball has gone out. The question in the session is a concrete one: where is the space to go forward? Players can choose to dribble or pass, and there is no required number of passes before scoring.

U8+ · 60 min

Space and choices in small-sided games

Notice the open route, choose a direction against an opponent and restart play quickly. Space for the players' own decisions.

Open the complete plan without signing in. Adjust the timings and notes for your team.

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Adapt the session to your group

Group size. The plans do not require a particular number of players in the team. Form small groups and repeat the same drill in parallel areas. 1v1 and 3v3 describe the game format, not the size of the whole training group. Every session page also has guidance for when players do not divide evenly.

Coaches and space. Place the areas so that you can see them and help players. If you have few helpers, keep the same task in the parallel areas. Add an area only when the group knows the rules. Start with a simpler game if running separate areas does not work.

Easier or harder. Show one example and let players try. Make it easier by adding space, widening the goal or giving more time. Make it harder with one change at a time. A compulsory pass or a touch limit is not the starting point of these sessions.

Amount of playing. If players wait in a queue more than they do, change the groupings or add a parallel place to take part. Short game periods make it easy to swap roles and have a drink break. Nobody is eliminated from the game for the rest of the session.

Coach's focus. Choose one thing to watch. At a break, ask for example where the free space was found or what helped get the ball towards the goal. After the session, note down one observation for next time.

What are the session choices based on?

The FA's guide on children's technical and tactical development emphasises touches on the ball, movement and small-sided games. It leaves children room to try out solutions and does not recommend emphasising passing too early.

The individual session pages also include a link to a FIFA Training Centre guide on the relevant theme. The plans, drills and their adaptations are CoachTruly's own. The sources support coaching choices; they are not an endorsement of these plans or of the U8+ label.

Open, edit and take it to the pitch

Edit this session opens all the sections, times and instructions of that session in the planner. Read the article takes you to more detailed coaching guidance. With the print button on the session page, you can take the instructions and drill diagrams to the pitch, or save them as a PDF from your browser's print window.

You can share an edited plan with another coach by link. Without an account, a shared plan is kept for 14 days from the first time it is shared. Save it to your account if you want to keep it longer. You can also read the content while logged in.

You can find more options in the football drill database. The training plan template helps you put together the next session from your own observations.

When ball control is established and the group is ready to practise working together, explore the U10+ sessions.