Passing and receiving session: passing to score festival

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Feb 9, 2026

Session intentions

This is week six of the passing and receiving to score session programme. Check out the whole six-week programme here.

This session will help players:

revisit key passing and receiving techniques from previous weeks
work back through activities from the previous weeks and add competition for positive execution of skills and tactics
compete to gain points towards a cumulative total.

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 and alter training plans accordingly.

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.

40x30-yard pitch

12 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Passing to score festival

Passing gates: Create two 20x15 yard pitches with two gates across the middle and a mini-goal at each end. Teams have their own half. One starts with a ball. Teams get one point if they pass through a gate and it goes beyond the end line and three points if they pass into the opposition’s mini-goal.
Small-sided games: Progress into small-sided games on your pitches. Teams can only score with a one-touch finish. Use pass-ins if the ball goes off the side of the pitch, but there are no corners. Players also can't use their hands to make a save.
Connect four: Put a square in each corner of your area. Have three teams of attackers, one team of defenders. Attackers have a ball per team. They get a point for passing to a teammate in a square. They do this as many times as possible in one minute – but must score in a different square each time.
Defenders try to stop the attackers from scoring. If they manage to touch a football, they get one point. If they win the ball and score in a mini-goal, they get three points. Play 90-second rounds and rotate the defending team until every team has had a go at defending.
Three-goal game: Finish with a small-sided game on a pitch that has a large goal and two mini-goals at each end. Teams get a point for scoring in any of the goals they’re attacking. But if they score with a first-time finish, they get two points.

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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 the gates bigger in passing gates
assign a defender to win the ball off a certain team in connect four, this avoids the defending team just going after one attacking team together
overload a team which is struggling to keep possession

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

introduce the head height rule in passing gates so players can’t loft it over the opposition, and challenge players to play a pass first-time when playing through a gate in passing gates
add end zones into the final game where players have to play into before finishing. This avoids teams shooting from range into the large goal.

Coaching points

Remind players to pass with purpose. Whether it’s first-time passing, combination play, or two-player core moves, they all can be used to help solve problems on the football pitch. Use a variety of coaching interventions, such as a ‘stop, stand still’ or ‘drive by’ coaching.

Don’t be afraid to support, however find a balance to allow them to demonstrate their understanding and problem-solving abilities.

Feel free to adapt games you’ve used over the weeks that the players have liked, just remember the focus of the sessions.