Playing Wide Out of the Back
Two teams of four play to stick goals, but nobody attacks until the ball has escaped through a wide channel first.
Playing wide out of the back — the habit a goal kick starts — is where players find time and space, and it clears dangerous play out of the center of the field.
Starting at Core — your team is set to mixed.
20 min tonight · Two teams of 4 (4v4)
- Ages 9+
- Two teams of 4 (4v4)
- 20 min as the drill is written
- Cones, pinnies, balls, practice sticks
Grab Cones, pinnies, balls, and practice sticks — two sticks for each goal.
Build Build a grid about 40 by 25 yards, make a small stick goal on each end line, and cone off a 7-yard channel along each side of the field at the center line.
Place Split into two teams of four, each defending a goal.
- 1
Organize the players
Split into two teams of four and give each team a goal to defend.
“Two teams of four. That's your goal — protect it.”
- 2
Show the jobs
Walk the two rules — a goal counts only when the ball is won in your defensive half and played wide through a channel before going in, and nobody goes forward until the ball is passed or dribbled through a channel.
“Win it in your half, get it wide through a channel — then you can go score.”
- 3
Play
Play 4v4 and hold the rules firmly — the channel is the only door forward. Push the team that wins the ball to keep possession and get out of the back by going wide.
“You won it — open up! Get it wide and out of the back.”
Look for Bodies opening up the moment the ball is won — that's what makes the quick switch wide possible.
- 4
Switch and repeat
Run new rounds with the channel rule changed — one round the ball must be passed through the channel, the next it must be dribbled through.
“New round — this time it has to be passed through the channel!”
If the ball never gets out of the back, go 5v3 — stack one team until playing wide works, then walk it back to 4v4.
Go deeper · 2 notes
Why it works
The channel rule makes wide the only way forward, so players discover for themselves that the outsides of the field are where the time and space live — and that going there relieves the center of dangerous play. It builds the playing-out-of-the-back pattern a goal kick starts, as a habit instead of a lecture.
What they learn
Getting out of the back by going wide — opening up the moment the ball is won, switching the point of attack, and thinking a step ahead of the play.
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.