---
title: "Steal the Bacon"
description: "The coach calls a number, two players race for one ball, and the first decision comes before anyone touches it: attack the ball or protect the goal."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/steal-the-bacon
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# Steal the Bacon

> The coach calls a number, two players race for one ball, and the first decision comes before anyone touches it: attack the ball or protect the goal.

U5 to U15 · 6 to 8 players · 15 × 20 m · 10 min

Also called Numbers Game, Change Football, Numbers.

![Diagram of Steal the Bacon](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/steal-the-bacon)

## How to play

1. Mark a pitch 15 metres wide and 20 metres long with a small goal at each end. Two teams of three or four stand on the two long sides, facing each other. Each team numbers its players from 1, so every number has one opponent across the pitch.
2. Each team attacks the goal on its left as it faces the pitch. The coach stands at one end with a supply of balls.
3. The coach calls a number and plays a ball into the middle. The two players with that number race out and play until one scores or the ball leaves the pitch. A goal is a point for the team.
4. Call one number for 1v1, two for 2v2, three for 3v3, and mix them. When the ball is dead, the players jog back to their places and the coach calls again straight away with a new ball.
5. Keep teams to four at most so nobody waits more than a few seconds. With more than eight players, run a second pitch alongside.

## The decision it trains

The decision comes before the first touch. Running in, each player reads the race: if I get there first, I attack; if my opponent will, I stop short and get between them and my goal instead of diving in. With the ball, it is shoot early or take the defender on. When two or three numbers are called, the player on the ball chooses between dribbling and passing, and the others choose between offering support and getting back to defend.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** make the goals 3 metres wide, so a player who wins the race has a real chance to score.
- **Too easy:** teams number themselves in secret, as one English version does, so nobody knows who they are racing until the other player starts to run.
- **Younger players:** play it like the old playground game: grab the ball and dribble it back over your own team's line before the other player can take it.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When you saw you would get there second, what did you do?"
- "How did you decide when to shoot?"
- "When two numbers were called, how did you and your partner share the work?"

## Where it comes from

A traditional children's game: a number is shouted and two players race for something in the middle. No source names who invented it, or who first played it with a football. It has many names: steal the bacon in the United States, jeu du béret in France, ruba fazzoletto in Italy, barra do lenço in Portugal. Football versions are documented by New Zealand Football (Numbers), Canada Soccer (4 Corners) and French and Portuguese coaching material, and the Italian federation adapted it for goalkeepers.

## Documented by

- Canada Soccer (Canada): 4 Corners
- FIFA Training Centre (International)
- Royal Belgian FA (Belgium)
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany): Farbendribbeln mit Gegenspieler, Zahlenfußball
- Danish FA (DBU) (Denmark): Highfive, Kapløb om bold, 1 V 1 - HIGHFIVE
- AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) (United States): Numbers Game, Numbers 2, Numbers 3, Jungle Pals
- BC Soccer (Canada)
- Football Australia (Australia): Change Football, Numbers Game, Fruit Salad
- US Youth Soccer (United States): GET OUT OF THERE!, STEAL THE BACON, Line Soccer
- Sport Australia (Australia): Change football
- Ontario Soccer (Canada): Numbers Game
- Scottish FA (United Kingdom)
- Japan's Ministry of Education (MEXT) (Japan)
- French FA (FFF) districts (France): Le béret - but
- Massachusetts Youth Soccer (United States): 4 Corner Shooting/Defending, 4 Corner Shoot/Def. 1v2 to Goal, 4 Corner Shoot 3v4 to Goal, Soccer Combat, Doggy Goal Combat
- Universidade da Beira Interior (Portugal): Barra do lenço
- Fencibles United AFC (New Zealand): Numbers
- Soccer Coach Weekly (United Kingdom): 1v1, 2v2, 3v3
- SoccerXpert (United States): The Numbers Game
- Playworks (United States): Steal the Bacon, Soccer Style
- Netboard (France): Béret foot
- YouCoach (Italy): ruba fazzoletto

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