---
title: "Middle Box First"
description: "Three against three to mini goals, but a team may only score after one of its players has received a pass inside the box in the middle: when to arrive there, and where the first touch goes."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/middle-box-first
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Middle Box First

> Three against three to mini goals, but a team may only score after one of its players has received a pass inside the box in the middle: when to arrive there, and where the first touch goes.

U7 to U11 · 6 to 7 players · 15 × 20 m · 12 min

Also called Pass-spektakel, Block-Party, Eleganz im Fadenkreuz.

![Diagram of Middle Box First](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/middle-box-first)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 15 metres wide and 20 long with a mini goal at each end and a 5 by 5 metre box in the middle. Three against three. With more players, run more pitches side by side.
2. Before your team can score, one of you has to receive a pass inside the box.
3. The other team may not step into the box until the ball has arrived there. Then they can come in.
4. The receiver has two touches in the box, then passes or carries the ball out. From then on your team can score, until it loses the ball.
5. After a goal, the other team starts from its own end line. Play 4 minute games, then change opponents.

## The decision it trains

Everything turns on one pass and one arrival. Arrive in the box too early and the defenders are waiting at its edges; arrive as the pass is played and the first touch is yours. Because nobody can come in until the ball does, the receiver has a moment to look before it arrives and choose where the first touch goes: out of the side nobody is guarding and on towards goal, or back to the passer, then away to take the return pass. The passer chooses between a teammate already standing in the box and one who is about to run in. The defenders cannot block the box itself, so they choose what to take away instead: press the passer, stand on the receiver's way out, or follow the runner before they get there.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** drop the rule. Any goal counts 1, and a goal after receiving in the box counts 2, so the box becomes a choice instead of a gate.
- **Too easy:** shrink the box to 3 by 3 metres, or allow only one touch in it.
- **Younger players:** add a neutral player who plays for whichever team has the ball, so there is always one more pass on.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "Before the ball reached you in the box, what did you see?"
- "When was the right moment to run into the box?"
- "Defenders: you couldn't go in, so what did you take away instead?"

## Where it comes from

The FA documents it in its England Football Learning sessions in "Receiving session: receiving techniques" (2026), the first week of a receiving and finishing programme for 7 to 11 year olds. No source names who created it.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany): Eleganz im Fadenkreuz, Pass-spektakel, Block-Party, Spiel in die Spitze
- Football Australia (Australia)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)
- CONMEBOL (International)

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