---
title: "Corner Squares"
description: "Score by passing to a teammate in a corner square, never the same square twice in a row: find the corner the defenders have left open and time the run into it."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/corner-squares
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Corner Squares

> Score by passing to a teammate in a corner square, never the same square twice in a row: find the corner the defenders have left open and time the run into it.

U7 to U11 · 8 to 12 players · 20 × 30 m · 12 min

Also called Connect four.

![Diagram of Corner Squares](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/corner-squares)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 20 metres wide and 30 long with a 5 metre square in each corner. Two teams of 4 to 6 and one ball. With more than 12 players, set up two pitches.
2. Pass to a teammate inside a square for a point. The receiver brings the ball back out and play goes on.
3. Your team's next point must come in a different square.
4. Nobody waits in a square: run in as the pass comes. Defenders may never go in.
5. Win the ball and your team attacks straight away, and any square counts for your first point. If the ball goes off, pass or dribble it back in. Play blocks of 4 minutes with a short break between them.

## The decision it trains

Defenders cannot go into the squares, so they defend the way in: the passing lanes and the space just outside. The player on the ball looks for the corner they have left open, and after a point that is usually on the far side, so the switch of play comes on its own. The runner's choice is when to go. Arrive early and a defender steps into the line; arrive late and the pass rolls into an empty square. So the runner watches the passer and goes as the passer looks up. Defenders choose between pressing the ball and guarding the square it can reach next.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** make the squares 7 metres, or add a floater who plays for the team on the ball.
- **Too easy:** shrink the squares to 3 metres, or give each player two touches at most.
- **Younger players:** start with the hands, as one FA session does: throw to a teammate who catches the ball inside a square, then play the same game with passes.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "Which square was free, and how did you know?"
- "When did you start your run into the square?"
- "Defending: which square did you guard, and why that one?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions as "Connect four" (2025 and 2026), in several sessions for 7 to 11 year olds. An earlier session from 2024 plays it as "Receive the ball in the box", with the ball thrown and caught before it is passed. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): Connect four
- Football Association of Finland (Finland)
- BC Soccer (Canada)
- Irish FA (Northern Ireland) (United Kingdom)
- US Youth Soccer (United States)
- Ontario Soccer (Canada)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)

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