---
title: "Lion King"
description: "Two lions work as a pair: one tags dribblers and carries their balls to the den, the other guards it. Keep your head up to stay free, and if you are caught, pick your moment to steal a ball back."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/lion-king
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Lion King

> Two lions work as a pair: one tags dribblers and carries their balls to the den, the other guards it. Keep your head up to stay free, and if you are caught, pick your moment to steal a ball back.

U6 to U10 · 8 to 12 players · 20 × 20 m · 12 min

Also called Leeuwenkoning.

![Diagram of Lion King](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/lion-king)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 20 by 20 metres with a den 4 by 4 metres in the middle, and a small box just outside one side. Two lions in bibs; everyone else dribbles a ball. With more than 12 players, set up two pitches.
2. One lion hunts. They tag a dribbler with a hand, take that player's ball, dribble it into the den, and go hunting again.
3. The other lion guards the den and may tag anyone trying to take a ball out of it.
4. A tagged player runs out to touch the box, then comes straight back to win a ball from the den. Dribble one out of the den without being tagged and you are back in the game; tagged on the way, back to the box.
5. Play rounds of 2 minutes. At the end, count the balls in the den: that is the lions' score. Then two new lions, and every ball goes back out.

## The decision it trains

There is only one hunter, and a dribbler sees them coming only with their head up. So the dribbler keeps looking and chooses where to go: away from the hunter, into open space, or behind another dribbler so the hunter has to go round. The tagged player's decision is when to raid. The guard can only be on one side of the den, so the raider goes when the guard is busy or facing away, or goes with another raider at the same moment, so the guard can catch only one. The lions decide together: the hunter's tags count only if the guard keeps the balls, and when two raiders come at once, the guard has to choose which one to stop.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** if the den fills up fast, make the pitch 25 by 25 metres, or the den 6 by 6, so the guard has more ground to cover.
- **Too easy:** if the den stays empty, make the pitch 15 by 15 metres, or the den 3 by 3.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "Where was the hunter when you decided which way to dribble?"
- "When you went to win a ball back, how did you choose your moment?"
- "Lions: how did the two of you share the work?"

## Where it comes from

Voetbal Vlaanderen, the Flemish wing of the Belgian football federation, documents it as Dribbeltikspel leeuwenkoning ("lion king dribble tag") in Niemand Buitenspel ("nobody offside"), its training folder for G-football, the game for players with a disability. The folder sets it at 10 to 12 minutes and plays it as a contest between pairs of lions. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium): Leeuwenkoning

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