A player looks to intercept the ball between two opponents.

Session

Marking and intercepting session: interception perfection

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Jun 16, 2025

Session intentions

This is week three of the marking and intercepting session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

become positive and enthusiastic defenders
communicate with teammates to defend effectively
understand the importance of a positive action after they intercept the ball.

If you're short on time, this structured training programme can be used as it is. Pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

To make the programme more effective, adapt it to suit your players, your numbers and the space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend these sessions – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

If you like this idea, download the session plan and give it a go. And don't forget to share your experience on the England Football Community. We'd love to know how you got on.

If you’re coaching U7s, please note that from the 2026-27 season, changes will be made to the formats to improve the experience young players get across the country. Check out the Future Fit digital content hub to find out more.

Session setup

In our example, this is what we’ve used to set up this session. But adapt it to suit your team and the space available to you.

Quarter of a pitch

12 players

Goals

Flat cones

Bibs

Interception perfection

Set up a 20x20-yard box for this arrival activity. Have two taggers or interceptors. The rest have one ball between them and must use their hands to throw and catch. They can’t move with the ball. The pair have 30 seconds to intercept it. They swap roles if they succeed, or the time runs out.
Create a 20x20-yard box for the first carousel activity. Put a square in the middle of it. Have four attackers around the outside of the box, and two defenders inside the middle square. Attackers look to play through the square for a point, or through the two defenders for two points.
If the defenders manage to get any touch on the ball, they get a point. But if they intercept a pass, they can break out to try to get the ball over the line – or into one of the corners – to score two points. Attackers can enter the area to stop them. Players swap roles after one minute rounds.
The second carousel activity needs a 30x20-yard area for 3v3 rivals. Teams combine and work the ball over the end line to score. While the out of possession team look to mark, cover and intercept to win the ball, before working it over the line to score. Whoever scores runs to turn a cone over.
For the final part of the carousel, use the arrival activity area. Play a possession-based game where a group of players look to keep the ball and two defenders try to win it back. If the defenders succeed, they score a point by dribbling out of the area with the ball. Swap roles after a minute.

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Tactics board

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out Vinny's tactics board video for this session.

Make it easier

Using the STEP framework (Youth Sports Trust, 2002) can help keep things fun, engaging, and appropriate.

To make this session easier, you could:

have more players as the taggers or interceptors during the arrival activity and the interception rondo
put a rule in place during interception rondo that the attackers have to try playing through the middle square after so many passes
make the pitch smaller in the 3v3 rivals game so it’s easier for players to mark their opponent.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

make the middle square in interception rondo bigger to increase the area defenders have to cover
increase the area size for any of the activities.

Coaching points

Encourage players to communicate to work together effectively and adjust their positioning.

Get players to think about ‘why’, ‘when’, and ‘how’ when it comes to intercepting. Closing down at the right time, or staying compact, will minimise the danger of being ‘played through’ and help them to win the ball.

When intercepting, challenge players to think about what they need to do before, during and after an interception.

Before