4v4 to Target Players
Four-a-side with a target teammate waiting past each end line — score by passing through a window into your target's feet.
Playing into a target gives the game a direction — heads come up, and every pass is a choice between keeping the ball and finding the way forward.
Starting at Core — your team is set to mixed.
20 min tonight · Two teams of 5 (4v4 plus targets)
- Ages 9+
- Two teams of 5 (4v4 plus targets)
- 20 min as the drill is written
- Cones or practice sticks, pinnies, balls
Grab Cones, flags, or practice sticks for the windows, pinnies, and a supply of balls kept close.
Build Build a field about 30 by 40 yards, then mark a window about 5 yards wide on the right and left side of the end line.
Place A 4v4 inside the grid. Each team's fifth player is the target, starting on the end line outside the windows they attack.
- 1
Organize the players
Two teams of five in pinnies — four inside, one target per team on the end line outside the windows they attack. Keep the ball supply at your feet.
“Four in, one target each. Targets — end line, outside the windows.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Walk one goal — a pass through a window, the target receives and keeps it, the passer sprints out to become the new target, and the old target joins the four.
“Score by hitting your target through a window — and they have to keep it. Make that pass? You're the new target.”
- 3
Play
Start each round by playing a ball into one team, and restart fast when a ball dies. Watch for the whole width and length being used to open the window.
“Heads up! Use all the width — short, short, then hit your target!”
Look for Heads on a pivot — players scanning for the target before the ball arrives instead of forcing the window pass.
- 4
Switch and repeat
The scoring does the rotating. To spotlight the target job, run the variation — no rotation, and one player works as the target for a longer stretch.
“Targets stay put this round — everybody find their feet through the window!”
If the window pass never comes, add a third window in the center of the end line — three doors instead of two — until goals start to flow.
Go deeper · 3 notes
Why it works
The target player gives possession a direction — the four keep the ball with the whole width and length of the area until the window opens — and the rotation means everyone learns to be the feet the team plays into.
What they learn
Vision and scanning, support across the whole area, and choosing between short passes and the ball into the target.
What's next
4v4 Zone Game — the target becomes a whole zone of teammates, and the pass must beat the middle.
Where does this come from?
SoccerXpert — their published drill library.
A published drill library. Useful and widely used, but not a governing body — so it fills gaps rather than leading.