Marking and intercepting sessions: dynamic defending

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Jun 1, 2026

Session intentions

This is week one and two of the marking and intercepting to stop goals session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

These weeks are combined to allow learning and coaching points to be scaffolded over two sessions. With similar practices being used throughout, players will also become familiar with the activities and get into them quicker.

These sessions will help players:

become positive and enthusiastic defenders
use scanning, movement, and positioning skills when marking as an individual
understand the role of covering and communication when defending in pairs.

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.

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.

Third of a pitch

12-18 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Week one: dynamic defending

Diamond duel: Set up an appropriately sized diamond-shaped area. Create gates at each point. Have up to four attackers behind a gate and four defenders behind the gate opposite. An attacker shouts “go” and runs to get through another gate. At the same time, a defender tries to tag them.
Players get a point for getting through a side gate and two points for getting through the defenders’ gate. After all attackers have had a go, the teams swap roles.
Whole – parallel pitches: Create parallel pitches for 3v3 or 4v4 games. Use end zones on the first pitch. Teams get a point for dribbling the ball into an end zone. They get two points if they pass the ball into the zone for a teammate to control. The receiver can only be in there for five seconds.
On the other pitch, have two gates at each end with a goalkeeper behind them. Teams get a point for passing the ball through a gate. They get two points if they pass through a gate for the keeper to receive. Passes need to be below shoulder height.
Part – mark the target: Set up multiple pitches with a goal at one end. Have an attacker, defender and a feeder. Add a goalkeeper if using groups of four. The feeder passes to the attacker and they try to score. The defender needs to mark the attacker and force them away from goal.
The attacker can use the feeder player as a passing option if needed. After three goes, all players rotate positions and the practice restarts.
Whole – parallel pitches: Return to the parallel games. This time, replace the gates with goals on the second pitch. Add the rule for both pitches: after a goal, the scorer runs off the pitch to record the goal on a whiteboard or using cones as counters. This provides an overload for a short time.

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Week one: on the pitch

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out this video to see what it can look like on the pitch.

Week two: revisiting dynamic defending

Diamond duel: Set up an appropriately sized diamond-shaped area. Create gates at each point. Have up to four attackers behind a gate and four defenders behind the gate opposite. This time, a defender starts the game by passing to the attacker. The attacker then tries to dribble through a gate.
Attackers get a point for getting through a side gate and two points for getting through the defenders’ gate. Defenders need to stop them from reaching any gate. After all attackers have had a go, the teams swap roles. This can be progressed to a 2v1 or 2v2 activity.
Whole – parallel pitches: Create parallel pitches for 3v3 or 4v4 games. Use end zones on the first pitch. Teams get a point for dribbling the ball into an end zone. They get two points if they pass the ball into the zone for a teammate to control. The receiver can only be in there for five seconds.
On the other pitch, play a four-goal game. Put two mini-goals at each end with a goalkeeper. Teams get a point for each goal they score. If mini-goals aren’t available, use cones to create gates for the keepers to protect.
Part – mark the target: Set up multiple pitches with a goal at one end. Have an attacker, defender and a feeder. Add a goalkeeper if using groups of four. The feeder passes to the attacker and they try to score. The defender needs to mark the attacker and force them away from goal.
The attacker can use the feeder player as a passing option if needed. After three goes, all players rotate positions and the practice restarts.
Whole – parallel pitches: Return to the parallel games. Add the rule for both pitches: after a goal, the scorer runs off the pitch to record the goal on a whiteboard or uses cones as counters. This provides an overload for a short time.

0/0

Week two: on the pitch

Looking for a bit more detail? Check out this video to see what it can look like on the pitch.

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:

make your playing areas smaller to increase opportunities for defenders to mark and intercept
add another defender in the ‘mark the target’ drill
give each team a target player in an end zone during ‘parallel pitches’ so defenders know who to mark.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

make your playing areas larger so defenders have more space to cover
allow the feeder to become another attacker in the ‘mark the target’ drill to create a 2v1 in favour of the attackers
play without goalkeepers on pitch two of ‘parallel pitches’ to increase the importance of marking and intercepting.