"Good coaches use the basic criteria of street football for their vision of grass roots development; they realise that these elements produce a natural process which gives the most efficient training for young kids."

Rinus Michels (Ajax, Barcelona & Netherlands coach)

4v4 is not a new concept. The Dutch introduced the format into youth football in the mid 1980s when they realised that the decline in street football was having a harmful effect on development. This is something we have never really addressed in the UK.

4v4 is the game at its most simple, whilst still preserving the main characteristics that game should have both depth & width.

There are a number of different games that can be played that utilize different skills.

The 4v4 journey began for me when a friend arranged a meeting for me with the KNVB in Holland. Spurred on by what I heard, I arranged a 6 day 4v4 Dutch Vision course in the summer of 2002 in Cirencester. The first person to my surprise that booked on the course was a Dutchman living in the North East of England.

Bert-Jan Heijmans then kindly stepped in to run the course when the KNVB coaches could not make it and for six days I was transfixed with what I saw and heard. The coaches and children learnt so much from Bert-Jan and each other in those few precious days, that all came away convinced there was 'another way'.

The dutchUK football school was born and Bert-Jan arranged a trip to Holland where we saw for ourselves a different culture where fun, development and education was put before 'winning at all costs'.

One of the coaches, a Bank Manager, was so moved by the experience that he gave up his job to become a PE teacher and share with the children what he had experienced.

This was not just the 4v4 game, but learning about structure and organisation that puts the children firmly first

Benefits of 4v4

• It is a very flexible format, pitches can be marked out with cones and you can have as many different 4v4 games as you have kids.
• Everyone plays
• Many touches of the ball
• The different games bring out different skills
• Many opportunities for everyone to score goals
• Lots of problem solving opportunities without coaches 'talking' you through the game
• Kids are not just a defender or attacker, but footballers
• You don't have to play other teams, you can play in-house if you have lots of kids
• The kids ref their own games so improve their communication and social skills
• The children take responsibility

The Manchester United Academy U9s 4v4 pilot scheme

For the past few years Manchester United U9s instead of playing 8v8 have played 4 different 4v4 games that they rotate round.

On average they play 6 games of 8 minutes lengths.

The games are: The goalkeeper game, the 2 goal game, the 4 goal game and line ball.(SEE 4v4 GAMES)

Rick Fenoglio from Manchester Metropolitan University did a year long study of the pilot scheme and game up with the following data comparing 4v4 to 8v8.

Number of passes - increase of 135%

Number of goals scored - increase of 500%

Number of 1v1 encounters - 225%

Number of dribbling skills (tricks) - 280%