---
title: "Positional Game 4v4+3"
description: "Four against four with three neutrals: get the ball from one end player to the other. With seven against four someone is always free; the question is who."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/positional-game-4v4-plus-3
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Positional Game 4v4+3

> Four against four with three neutrals: get the ball from one end player to the other. With seven against four someone is always free; the question is who.

U11 to U18 · 9 to 11 players · 20 × 30 m · 15 min

Also called Wall Play, Bander, juego de posición.

![Diagram of Positional Game 4v4+3](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/positional-game-4v4-plus-3)

## How to play

1. Mark a rectangle 20 metres wide and 30 metres long. Two teams of four play inside it. Three neutrals in a third colour: one on each end line and one in the middle.
2. The neutrals always play for the team on the ball, so it is seven against four.
3. A team scores a point when the ball travels from one end neutral to the other, through any of its players. Then it plays back the other way for the next point.
4. When the defending team wins the ball, the roles flip at once: they now play with the neutrals.
5. Play rounds of three or four minutes, and change the three neutrals every round so everyone takes a turn.

## The decision it trains

With seven against four there is always a free player; the question is where. The player on the ball looks for the pass that gets past a presser, ideally into the middle neutral or a teammate between the defenders, and plays back to an end neutral when the middle is closed. The players without the ball decide where to stand to open a line behind the nearest presser. The four defenders decide whether to close the middle or press the ball.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** widen the rectangle to 25 metres, so the defenders have more ground to cover.
- **Too easy:** the neutrals may only take two touches, then one, so the team's own players have to make the play.
- **Younger players:** play 3v3+3 in a 20 by 25 rectangle, with free touches.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When you got the ball, could you already see the middle player?"
- "What did you do when the way through the middle was closed?"
- "Defenders: which pass did you decide to stop, and what happened next?"

## Where it comes from

It belongs to Spanish positional play, juego de posición, and English-language coaching often calls it the "Guardiola grid" after Pep Guardiola's use of it at Barcelona and Bayern. No source names an inventor. A course from Chile's national football coaching institute traces positional play through Cruyff, Van Gaal and Guardiola, and in Portugal these games are jogos de posição. It is documented in coaching blogs and that course; no federation document describes the 4v4+3 itself.

## Documented by

- INAF, Chile's national football institute (Chile)
- Football Association of Finland (Finland)
- Canada Soccer (Canada)
- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium)
- Football Australia (Australia)
- Danish FA (DBU) (Denmark): Bander
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany)
- PA West Soccer (United States): Wall Play
- Ontario Soccer (Canada)
- FIFA Training Centre (International)
- iCoachFootball (Ireland)
- SoccerTutor (United Kingdom): juego de posición
- Bola na Rede (Portugal): jogos de posição
- Bennion Kearny (United Kingdom)

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