---
title: "Goal vs End Zone"
description: "One team shoots at a goal with a keeper, the other scores by getting the ball into an end zone: two different problems on one pitch, and they swap."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/goal-vs-end-zone
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Goal vs End Zone

> One team shoots at a goal with a keeper, the other scores by getting the ball into an end zone: two different problems on one pitch, and they swap.

U8 to U11 · 9 to 9 players · 20 × 30 m · 20 min

Also called Equality Game, One-goal Game, Finten-Turnier.

![Diagram of Goal vs End Zone](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/goal-vs-end-zone)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch about 30 metres long and 20 wide. At one end put a goal; at the other, mark an end zone 3 metres deep across the full width.
2. Four against four, plus a goalkeeper in the goal, who always plays for the team defending it.
3. The goal team scores by shooting into the goal. The zone team scores by dribbling the ball into the end zone, or by passing to a teammate who runs into the zone and stops the ball there. Nobody may wait in the zone.
4. Whoever scores keeps the ball and starts again from its own end.
5. Play rounds of four minutes. Then the teams swap targets, and a different player takes a turn in goal.

## The decision it trains

The two teams face different problems. The zone team has a whole line to attack and has to choose: dribble in, or slide a pass for a teammate arriving in the zone. The runner has to time the run so that player and ball get there together. The goal team has one small target with a keeper in it, so it has to work out when a shot is really on. When the ball changes hands, both teams swap problems in a second.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** deepen the end zone to 5 metres, so there is more room to arrive in it.
- **Too easy:** narrow the pitch to 15 metres, so the end zone is shorter and easier to defend.
- **Younger players:** two against two on a smaller pitch, a keeper in the goal, and the zone team scoring only by dribbling over the line.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "Attacking the zone, how did you choose between dribbling in and passing to a runner?"
- "When you made the run, when did you start it, and what told you it was time?"
- "What changed for you when the ball switched and you had the other target?"

## Where it comes from

Italy's football federation uses it in its children's competition model, as one of the "game situations" played alongside the matches: a 2v2 version for under-8s and under-9s, and a 4v4 version for under-10s and under-11s. Scoring in an end zone is common to many games; the pairing of a goal against an end zone is what the Italian model sets down. The Italian coaching site Idea Calcio published the same structure for older players in 2014.

## Documented by

- Italian FA (FIGC) (Italy)
- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany): 4-Bälle-Spiel, 4-Bälle-Runde, Finten-Turnier
- Football Australia (Australia): Equality Game
- PA West Soccer (United States): One-goal Game
- Massachusetts Youth Soccer (United States)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)
- Idea Calcio (Italy)

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "Article",
      "headline": "Goal vs End Zone",
      "description": "One team shoots at a goal with a keeper, the other scores by getting the ball into an end zone: two different problems on one pitch, and they swap.",
      "url": "https://hobbit.football/drills/goal-vs-end-zone",
      "mainEntityOfPage": "https://hobbit.football/drills/goal-vs-end-zone",
      "inLanguage": "en",
      "publisher": {
        "@type": "Organization",
        "@id": "https://hobbit.football/#organization",
        "name": "Hobbit",
        "alternateName": "Hobbit AI",
        "url": "https://hobbit.football",
        "logo": {
          "@type": "ImageObject",
          "url": "https://hobbit.football/icon-512.png"
        },
        "sameAs": [
          "https://x.com/pc_hobbit"
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
```