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An opposition player looks to intercept the ball about to be passed.
Session programme

Session programme: marking and intercepting to defend

The FA’s Vinny Halsall and Lawrence Lok provide a six-week football session programme to help 7-11s improve their marking and intercepting skills.

This six-week programme aims to help your players:

  • become positive and enthusiastic defenders
  • make informed decisions of when to mark and when to intercept.

 

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 whole programme 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.

Tactics board: week one

Looking for more detail? Check out Vinny’s tactics board video. You can also get more information about the first week of the programme here.

Tactics board: week two

Looking for more detail? Check out Vinny's tactics board video for this session. You can also get more information about the second week of the programme here.

Tactics board: week three

Looking for more detail? Check out Vinny’s tactics board video. You can also get more information about the third week of the programme here.

Tactics board: week four

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out Loz's tactics board video for this session. You can also get more information about the fourth week of the programme here.

Tactics board: week five

Looking for more detail? Check out Loz’s tactics board video.