---
title: "World Cup (Wembley)"
description: "Every pair attacks one goal at once: score and you are through, finish last and you drop into the Plate, until a cup final decides it."
canonical: https://hobbit.football/drills/world-cup-knockout
language: en
publisher: Hobbit (https://hobbit.football)
---

# World Cup (Wembley)

> Every pair attacks one goal at once: score and you are through, finish last and you drop into the Plate, until a cup final decides it.

U6 to U14 · 5 to 13 players · 25 × 20 m · 15 min

Also called World Cup, Wembley, Knockout.

![Diagram of World Cup (Wembley)](https://hobbit.football/api/game-library/diagram/world-cup-knockout)

## How to play

1. Mark a 25 by 20 metre area in front of one goal. Put a keeper in it: you, an assistant, or a player who changes every round. Stand by the post with every ball you have. Players go in pairs, and each pair picks a country.
2. Throw a ball in. Every pair fights for it and tries to score, each pair against all the others. After a save or a ball out, throw the next one in straight away.
3. A pair that scores is through and steps off. When only one pair is left without a goal, it is knocked out and the next round starts.
4. Out does not mean off: knocked out pairs go to a mini goal beside the area and play the Plate, the same game with no keeper, restarting themselves after each goal and keeping a running count. The first pair out plays 1v1 against each other until the next pair arrives.
5. When two pairs are left, the final is first to two goals. When it ends, the pair with the most Plate goals wins the Plate.

## The decision it trains

With one goal and every pair against the rest, the player on the ball has rivals closing from all sides. Shoot now from a poor angle, or take one more touch and risk losing it? Finish it yourself, or lay it to a partner in space? Players without the ball choose too: chase it with the crowd, or wait where the rebound and the loose ball will drop. Every goal a rival scores pushes you nearer to last place, so defending counts as well.

## Make it harder or easier

- **Too hard:** split into two areas with two goals and four pairs each, so every pair gets the ball more often.
- **Too easy:** a pair needs two goals to go through, or draw a line 8 metres out and goals from inside it do not count, so nobody waits by the post.
- **Younger players:** no pairs: every child plays alone, four to six per goal, with two or three goals running at once.

## What to ask at the breaks

- "When did you shoot straight away, and when did you take another touch first?"
- "Where did you stand when you wanted the loose ball?"
- "How did the two of you decide who would shoot?"

## Where it comes from

No inventor is documented, and it is played in many places. In England it is the playground game Wembley; a 2014 feature by The FA recorded more of its names: World Cup, Cuppy, Worldy, Knocky-outy, World Cup Willy and Wurly. In the North East of England a version in pairs is called Marras. In the US it is World Cup, and FIFA's grassroots material has a version in pairs where the last pair without a goal each round goes out.

## Documented by

- The FA (United Kingdom): Wembley
- FIFA Training Centre (International): World Cup
- US Youth Soccer (United States): World Cup
- AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) (United States): World Cup
- German regional FAs (Bavaria, Hamburg, South Baden) (Germany): Jeder gegen jeden
- Planet Football (United Kingdom): Knockout, Wembleys, Wembley Doubles, Marras
- ACTIVEkids (United States): World Cup
- PE Update (United States)
- SoccerXpert (United States)
- Sport Session Planner (United Kingdom)

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