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4v4 Four-Goal Game

By Gabe Ramos · U.S. Soccer Coach Educator · Updated October 2026

4v4 with two mini goals at each end, so each team attacks two goals. If one goal is crowded, turn and go to the other. From the 1st grade 4v4 festival, where the coach steps back and the game teaches.

Setup

4v4 with two mini goals at each end, so each team attacks two goals. If one goal is crowded, turn and go to the other. Head up to find the open one.

Make it easier or harder

• Easier: Make the field wider.
• Harder: Score in one goal, then you must score in the other.

Coach’s notes

• If It's Chaos: Everyone at one goal? Freeze and point to the empty one.

Why it works

Two goals to attack is the oldest trick for teaching young players to switch play, and it works because nobody has to explain it. The crowded goal is closed; the open goal is where the space is.

Freeze and point to the empty goal when the swarm forms. Then let them play. By the third game they point to it themselves.

Where it sits

This activity is from 1st Grade · Week 8 · 4v4 Festival in the Full Season Intramural Curriculum for Pre-K to 2nd grade. Every session in the book has the same shape: arrival play, Soccer Island, two or three activities and the game, with two coaching points a day, an easier and a harder version of everything, and a fix for when it turns to chaos.

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