Three J+S sessions, minute by minute
Proportional ribbons on one shared 0-to-90-minute axis. Free play takes a quarter to a third of the session — the chart shows it before anyone writes it.
Each block is as wide as its published duration; all three sessions share the same minute scale.
Three published sessions, minute by minute
The monthly theme Football – Sport des enfants J+S (OFSPO / mobilesport.ch, 06-07/2013, authors B. Truffer, P. Knäbel, R. Kern) publishes 22 drills and three complete session plans, each block with its duration. The categories as that document states them: G = 5-6, F = 7-8, E = 9-10 years old.
| Session | Cat. | Total | Introduction | Variety | Learning | Free play | Closing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “Conduire la balle comme Xherdan Shaqiri” running with the ball like Xherdan Shaqiri | G | 75 min | À travers le pays coloré (15) | Sautiller et tenir l'équilibre (15) | 3 contre gardien (20) | 3v3 and 4v4 (20) | Potion magique (5) |
| “Dribbler comme Lionel Messi” dribbling like Lionel Messi | F | 90 min | Monts et lacs (15) | Chasse aux sapins (20) | École de ballon 1 (20) | 5v5 and 1v1 (30) | Tir forain (5) |
| “Se créer des occasions de but comme Valentin Stocker” creating chances like Valentin Stocker | E | 90 min | Miroir + Dans le poulailler (15) | Saut à la corde (15) | 4 contre 4 + 2 jokers (25) | 6v6 (30) | Massage (5) |
The session and drill names are printed here as the federation publishes them, in French — the corpus holds the French edition of that monthly theme. The English glosses are ours; the titles are not.
The learning blocks come with their setups too: 3 contre gardien — ~10×15 m, goal inside a 3-5 m triangle, three players against the goalkeeper; École de ballon 1 — ~15×20 m, a station with a defender and a goal, 6 to 8 players per station; 4 contre 4 + 2 jokers — ~20×30 m, the jokers always play with whoever has the ball (the published “flower” image: it opens when attacking, closes when defending). So do the introductions: À travers le pays coloré ~15×10 m with coloured gates, Miroir and Dans le poulailler ~15×15 m.
The J+S block architecture, category by category
Underneath the three sessions there is a quantified template. Two documents publish it — the 06-07/2013 monthly theme and the ASF/J+S course document Kinderfussball: Theorie und Praxis (2015) — and they are identical row for row, not merely on the totals.
| Block | G | F | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Einleitung / introduction | 5-15 min | 5-20 min | 10-20 min |
| Hauptteil / main part | 45-60 min | 55-70 min | 60-70 min |
| — Fussball spielen lernen (learning to play) | 15-20 min | 20-25 min | 20-30 min |
| — Vielseitigkeit erleben (all-round movement) | 15-20 min | 15-20 min | 15-20 min |
| — Fussball spielen (free play) | 15-20 min | 20-25 min | 20-30 min |
| Ausklang / closing | 5-15 min | 5-15 min | 5-15 min |
| Total | 60-75 min | 75-90 min | 90 min |
Three content families structure the main part, in the federation's own words: Fussball spielen lernen (learning to play football) · Vielseitigkeit erleben (experiencing all-round movement) · Fussball spielen (playing football). Inside the first, two game situations: Tore erzielen (scoring goals) and Tore vorbereiten (preparing goals, alone or together).
One honest wrinkle: the published category F plan spends 30 minutes on free play, while the same body's block table prints 20-25 min for that block. Both figures are published by J+S; we print them as they stand rather than aligning one to the other.
The 45-minute lesson and the club lesson
There is a second, shorter Swiss format, and it must not be confused with the first.
- The school lesson — 45 min: warm-up 15 / main part 25 / cool-down 5. Published in the monthly theme Fussball in der Schule / Football à l'école (OFSPO, 05/2016), stated age 7-12, school classes 1 to 6. Instantiated in Lektion 2 “Über den Fluss” (classes 1-3): Einstieg 15′ Brückenwächter / Hauptteil 25′ Uferturnier / Ausklang 5′ Brücken-Curling.
- The J+S-Kids club lesson — 75-90 min. Lektion 10 “Dribbeln und Tore erzielen” (2011), stated age 8-10, a group of 12 (min. 8, max. 16), a 50×40 m grass pitch with two Kifu goals. Breakdown: Einleitung 25′ / Hauptteil 40′ / Ausklang 10′.
That club lesson in detail, as printed: Dribbling 10′ (20×20 m, one ball per child, three taggers) · Dribbling “Herr und Hund” 5′ (in pairs, B mirrors A, swap after 1 min) · Dribbling und Tore erzielen 10′ · Spiel auf Linientore 10′ (3v3 or 4v4, pitches of about 15 m, 7 m line-goals) · Dribbling – Torschuss 1 10′ (three rotating roles, never two consecutive shots at the same goal, rotate every 2 min) · Dribbling – Torschuss 2 10′ · Spiel 4:4 or 3:3 10′ · Präzisions-Torschuss 10′ (goal split into thirds, three distances, two rounds: stronger foot, then weaker foot).
Global → analytical → global
FIFA endorses two named session models, each age-tagged — and neither publishes durations:
- Play-Practice-Play, ages 4-8: “Begin each session with an activity that resembles a real match, so that players explore and experiment instinctively.”
- Global-Analytical-Global (GAG), ages 8-12: unopposed skill practice bracketed between game-like activities, with the analytical phase told to prioritise “accuracy over speed”.
What is rarely noticed: the J+S heading brochure (OFSPO, 03/2015, author Bruno Truffer, head of sport J+S Football) already used exactly that logic, under different block names — Introduction / Global Jeu 1 / Exercice analytique / Global Jeu 2 / Mobilisation-renforcement, inside two bands the document names itself: Préformation up to 15 years old and Formation from 15. Two independent federations therefore publish the same sandwich. The convergence is real and citable; it is not our reconstruction.
The third point of convergence is French: the DTN's procédés taxonomy separates global from analytical work along the same logic (see below).
Three documents, three frameworks — do not merge them
| Document | Phases | Descriptors |
|---|---|---|
| BASPO, Manual Fussball Kinder (2023), p. 21 | two — “Wir haben den Ball” / “Wir haben den Ball nicht” | six Erscheinungsformen — “Das Spiel kreativ gestalten”, “Mutig Tore erzielen”, “Den Ball entschlossen erobern”, “Mutig Tore verhindern”, “Sich flink und geschickt bewegen”, “Sich respektvoll verhalten und fair spielen” — that is play creatively, score bravely, win the ball back decisively, prevent goals bravely, move nimbly and skilfully, and behave respectfully while playing fair |
| SFV + J+S, Kinderfussball: Theorie und Praxis (2015), p. 11 | two — “Wir haben den Ball” / “Der Gegner hat den Ball” (we have the ball / the opponent has the ball) | four Spielsituationen — Tore erzielen · Tore vorbereiten · Tore verhindern · Ball erobern. The word Erscheinungsformen does not appear in this document |
| BASPO, Manual Fussball Jugendliche (2022), pp. 21-23 | four (the Spielkompass, figure 6) | eleven Erscheinungsformen for Stufe F3, in five groups (table 4, p. 21) |
The practical consequence: the “two Spielphasen, six Erscheinungsformen” taxonomy belongs to the Manual Fussball Kinder (2023, p. 21) — not to the 2015 course document. If you cite one, name the document. And if you coach older juniors, the one that concerns you is the Manual Fussball Jugendliche (2022), with its four phases — a different framework again.
The shape of a session, federation by federation
The four bodies that publish on this do not describe a session in the same unit. The disagreement is real, and it is worth seeing whole.
| FFF | ASF/SFV + J+S | URBSFA (KBVB / Voetbal Vlaanderen) | FIFA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit | the atelier — 15-20 min for 8 to 14 players (District de Savoie). The whole-session plan was not retrieved | three blocks, minute ranges per G/F/E category | a percentage budget of session length | Play-Practice-Play (4-8) and GAG (8-12), no durations published |
| Split | not published as such | see the block table above | opwarming 15% · wedstrijdvormen 50% · tussenvormen 30% · cooling down 5%; U6-U7 exception, under different block names: WEDSTRIJDJES (2v2, 1v1, 2v1, 3v2 and 3v3) 50% · ALGEMENE VORMING 20% · BALVAARDIGHEID 15% · KLEINE SPELEN MET DE BAL 15% | — |
| What the session starts with | a warm-up (implied by the atelier structure, not stated as doctrine) | Einleitung — an animated dribbling or tag game | opwarming, 15% of the session | a game: “Begin each session with an activity that resembles a real match” |
The same plan cannot be written in both grammars without choosing: Swiss minutes and Belgian percentages are not convertible until a total length is fixed. And FIFA's opening-with-a-game is a doctrinal position, not a warm-up variant.
The Belgian document (Opleidingsvisie Voetbal Vlaanderen, 2025 edition) goes further than most and is worth quoting for its explicit rules:
- Six criteria for a form to count as a wedstrijdvorm (p. 100, verbatim): “01. Afgebakend terrein met doel(en) op de doellijn · 02. 1 bal · 03. 2 teams met tegenovergestelde spelbedoelingen · 04. Minstens 1 keeper in centraal doel · 05. Echte wedstrijdreglementen · 06. Zo dicht mogelijk bij de authentieke context” — a marked pitch with goal(s) on the goal line, one ball, two teams with opposing intentions, at least one goalkeeper in a central goal, the real laws of the game, as close as possible to the authentic context.
- “MINSTENS 50% VAN DE ‘KERN’TIJD = WEDSTRIJDVORMEN” — at least half the core session time in match forms. The line is printed twice on the same page (p. 115).
- A five-rung hierarchy, from closest to the match to furthest (p. 114): 1 matches and match forms · 2 meaningful intermediate forms · 3 drill-intermediate forms · 4 other intermediate forms · 5 the remainder (“Penalty, spelhervattingen, lopen, estafettes, afwerken zonder vooracties…”).
- A prohibition list, under the heading “Doen we niet” (p. 114): “rondjes lopen · zinloze ladderoefeningen · stationnetjes-training · rijtje en shotten op doel · filetraining” — laps of the pitch, pointless ladder work, siloed station training, queueing up to shoot, single-file drills.
- And two formulas that sum up the method: “Geef ze dus per training 100.000 balcontacten” (p. 99) and PPD — “Plaatje + praatje, daarna daadje” (p. 108), the picture then the word, then the action. Planning runs on the 4W: WIE / WAT / WAAR / WANNEER (pp. 111-113).
Small-sided games: the published sizes, and what the evidence says
The small-sided formats federations publish, with their dimensions:
| Format | Area | Source | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3v3, two 1-2 m goals, no goalkeeper | ~15×10 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | G |
| 4v4 + goalkeeper, one 5 m goal each end | ~20×15 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | G |
| 4v4, two 1-2 m goals, no goalkeeper | ~20×15 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | F |
| 5v5 + goalkeeper | ~30×20 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | F |
| 6v6, two 1-2 m goals, no goalkeeper | ~30×20 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | E |
| 7v7 + goalkeeper | ~45×30 m | SFV/J+S 2015 | E |
| 4v4 + 2 jokers | ~20×30 m | OFSPO 06-07/2013 | E |
| 3v3 or 4v4, 7 m line-goals | pitches ~15 m | J+S-Kids Lektion 10 | ages 8-10 |
Two meta-analyses frame how those formats are used. The first (Praça et al., J Hum Kinet 2022; 11 studies, n = 221, relative areas from 25 to 275 m² per player) shows that a larger relative area raises the load: high-speed distance g = 0.93 (95% CI 0.22-1.65; p = 0.001), total distance g = 0.73 (0.12-1.34; p = 0.006), mean heart rate g = 0.52 (0.17-0.88; p = 0.008). The moderator is area per player, not pitch size alone and not player number alone.
The second (Clemente et al., Biol Sport 2023; 41 articles retained from 249 screened) tests the technical half — and the result is a null: no significant difference in the number of passes (p = 0.897; ES = 0.02) or dribbles (p = 0.823; ES = −0.05), “independent of format and age group”. The widespread belief that a smaller pitch increases technical volume has therefore been tested and is not supported.
“Erlebnis statt Ergebnis”
The competition principle the SFV prints for categories G, F and E is three words long: “Erlebnis statt Ergebnis” — the experience rather than the result. In practice, and written in black and white: no eliminations, no ranking, every team plays the same number of matches.
The tournament rule set published in the 05/2016 school theme (pp. 17-19) is of the same kind: a rotation format, 3v3 up to 5v5, 6 to 12 teams, no eliminations, no final ranking, no referees, fair-play focused. Each of the five published tournament blocks runs three matches of 7 minutes, with position and goalkeeper rotation.
| Cat. | Format | Match length | Rounds | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | 3v3 / 4v4 | 10 min | 6-8 | ~90 min |
| F | 5v5 | 12 min | 6-8 | ~90-105 min |
| E | 7v7 | 15-20 min | 3-6 | ~90-120 min |
Match format as published by the SFV/J+S (Kinderfussball: Theorie und Praxis, 2015) — distinct from the school tournament rule set above.
The vision carrying all of this is published as the “3 L” / RAR — Lachen / Lernen / Leisten, in French Rire / Apprendre / Réaliser une performance: “Rire évoque la joie du mouvement et de l'expérience vécue en groupe” · “Apprendre signifie faire des progrès au niveau psychique, moteur ainsi que social” · “Réaliser une performance signifie se mesurer à soi-même” — laughing is the joy of movement and of the shared experience; learning is progress that is mental, motor and social; performing is measuring yourself against yourself. And, verbatim: “Jedes Kind ist begabt und hat das Recht unter Einhaltung von Fairplay und Respekt zu spielen” — every child is gifted and has the right to play, within fair play and respect. The three training principles J+S states: “Ludique” · “Orienté vers la situation de jeu” · “Adapté aux enfants et varié” — playful, oriented to the game situation, child-adapted and varied.
Endorsed models, merely popular models
Plenty of models circulate in coach-education rooms. Few are written into a federation document. The distinction is useful: it tells you what you can invoke in front of a technical director, and what remains a personal preference.
| Model | Federation endorsement found | What is published |
|---|---|---|
| Game-based / play first | ✅ FIFA, explicitly and by name | Play-Practice-Play, ages 4-8; and as a general principle, “Creating inclusive, game-based and actively engaging sessions” |
| Global → analytical → global | ✅ FIFA (GAG, ages 8-12) and ✅ J+S (Introduction / Global Jeu 1 / Exercice analytique / Global Jeu 2) | Two independent federations publish the same sandwich |
| Guided discovery / withholding the objective | ✅ FFF (DTN) | Le jeu: objectives “Non communiqués au joueur”, the player “découvre les solutions et construit des réponses adaptées”. FIFA likewise: problem-solving “without coach intervention” |
| Constraints-led approach (CLA), by name | ❌ the name was not found in any federation document opened | But the mechanism is published: the SFV's Rad der Variation varies Tore (goals), Spieler (jokers, overloads), Spielfeld (enlarge → confidence in space; reduce → pressure), Bälle, Regel (a two-touch limit “emphasises first-touch and passing work”) |
| TGfU, by name | ❌ not found in any document opened | — |
| Differential learning | ❌ no federation opened endorses it | The evidence exists but its own authors forbid the conclusion: 27 studies / 31 experiments, acquisition g = 0.26 [0.10-0.42], retention g = 0.61 [0.30-0.91], I² = 77% / 79%, high risk of bias — “inferences about the effectiveness of DL would be premature” |
| S-A-E (Situation → Action → Effect) | ✅ SFV, citing Scherer/Bietz 2013 | The worked example in the document: the heading task “Schleudere den Kegel mit deinem Kopfball weg!” — a task with an observable effect, not a movement instruction |
The DTN's three procédés, verbatim
The FFF publishes its definitions in Réforme de la formation fédérale — Les procédés d'entraînement. They do not say what they are usually taken to say.
| Procédé | Definition (verbatim) | Objectives |
|---|---|---|
| Le jeu (the game) | “Forme de travail basée sur une égalité numérique avec des objectifs et des buts communs” | “Non communiqués au joueur” |
| La situation | “Forme de travail sur des groupes de joueurs en interactions avec des objectifs et buts communs ou pas” | “Fixés partiellement” |
| L'exercice — analytique | “Forme de travail de base avec une prise d'information faible” | — |
| L'exercice — adapté | “Travail à choix multiple enrichi avec des prises d'information plus importantes” | — |
Three things this settles: the discriminator between le jeu and la situation is numerical equality — not “with or without opposition”, as is commonly assumed. The discriminator for l'exercice is the volume of information the player must take in — a perceptual criterion, not an opponent-based one. And in le jeu, the objective is deliberately withheld from the player: that is a design instruction, not a description.
Sources
OFSPO/BASPO — mobilesport.ch: Football – Sport des enfants J+S, monthly theme 06-07/2013 (B. Truffer, P. Knäbel, R. Kern) · Jeu de tête, monthly theme 03/2015 (B. Truffer) · Fussball in der Schule / Football à l'école, 05/2016 · Lektion 2 “Über den Fluss” · J+S-Kids Fussball, Lektion 10 (2011). — SFV/ASF + J+S, Kinderfussball: Theorie und Praxis, course document (2015). — BASPO, Manual Fussball Kinder (2023, p. 21) and Manual Fussball Jugendliche (2022, pp. 21-23). — FFF DTN, Réforme de la formation fédérale — Les procédés d'entraînement; District de Savoie, Livret pédagogique U10-U11 / U12-U13 (2021); District de Haute-Marne, Guide de l'éducateur U11 (2021-22). — FIFA Training Centre: An introduction to Play-Practice-Play, Coaching with the Global-Analytical-Global model, Grassroots index. — KBVB / Voetbal Vlaanderen, Opleidingsvisie, 2025 edition (pp. 99-115). — Praça GM et al., J Hum Kinet 2022;81:163-176 · Clemente FM et al., Biol Sport 2023;40(1):111-147 · differential-learning meta-analysis, Front Psychol 2021. Corpus verified August 2026; each document carries its own edition date, given above wherever it is printed.
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