Receiving session: receiving techniques

Session

England Football Learning

2 mins - Apr 13, 2026

Session intentions

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

This session will help players:

work out how to receive the ball using a variety of techniques
develop confidence in receiving the ball
learn how to receive the ball opposed and unopposed.

If you're short on time, this programme can be used as it is. But it’s a template you can build on. So, to make the session or programme more effective, adapt it to suit your players and their needs, as well as the numbers and space you have. If you want to skip, repeat or amend individual practices or the whole session – that's fine. It’s up to you how you use this resource.

Any pitch sizes in this programme are shown as how long the pitch is x how wide it is, but these are just suggestions.

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.

Third of a pitch

6-18 players

Mini-goals

Flat cones

Spots/flat markers

Bibs

Building technique

Diamond receiving: Create three diamond areas with cones. Put a player on each one. Players on the top and bottom cones need a ball. On the first pitch, players pass anticlockwise around the area. Players receive on the back foot outside the cone then pass. Change the passing direction after a bit.
In the next area, players on the side cones drop into the middle to receive the ball and turn to play to the other player on the cone. Swap players over after 90 seconds.
For the final part of the arrival activity carousel, two players are in the middle. They receive a pass from a player on a cone, play a one-two, then turn and pass to the player on the other cone. Swap players over after 90 seconds. Rotate players around each area.
Receive to target: Split two pitches into thirds. Have a target player at each end with a 2v2 in the middle. Teams work it from one end to the other. When a target player has the ball, the in-possession team go into their third. The opposition can’t enter here until a pass has been made.
Using the same areas, add a box in the middle channel and put goals on each end of pitch one. When attacking, teams must receive the ball in the box before they go for goal. The opposing team can’t enter the box until the player has received the ball. The receiver can only have two touches in here.
On pitch two, have a goal and some footballs at each end. Put some cones at the side of the pitch. When a goal is scored, the scorer must get a cone and put it next to their goal. The opposition restart play quickly – this creates a 2v1 for a small moment of time.

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On the pitch

Wondering what this could look like? Check out the video to see how a coach took this session idea and adapted it for a group of players.

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 first diamond area smaller to encourage playing and receiving shorter passes
use a floating player to give the in-possession team an overload
remove the rule where players have to receive in the middle square before scoring in the first carousel activity. Instead, give them double points if they decide to do that and then go on to score.

Make it harder

To make this session harder, you could:

make the first diamond area bigger to challenge players to play and receive longer passes
allow the opposition to go into their opponent’s final third in ‘receive to target’
make the middle square smaller in the first carousel activity. This let’s players experience receiving in tight spaces under pressure.