One exercise, four names
The same keep-away square, four names depending on which document you open.
The square drawn here is not dimensioned: the only measurements quoted are Tigerball's, and they keep the source's "roughly".
The Swiss FA's five technical families
The ASF/SFV coach-education document Technik-Training (C Basic Diploma, day 4, module TE 14) defines five technical families — and only five. It is the most explicit technical taxonomy in the federation documents opened for this guide.
| Family (federation term) | What the federation defines | Coaching points as printed |
|---|---|---|
| Ballkontakt first touch | "The initial contact determines success or failure of a play action." A conscious first touch prepares the ball for what follows, based on a space–time assessment. | Four intents: accelerate play; apply pressure (touch toward the opponent's goal); relieve pressure (touch into open space); secure possession when forward play is unavailable. |
| Dribbling | Three sub-types: gegnerüberwindendes (opponent-defeating, 1v1, using body feints), raumgewinnendes (space-gaining, at speed), ballhaltendes (ball-securing, body as a shield). | The sub-type is chosen by the game situation, never by the player's preference. |
| Passspiel passing | A directional taxonomy of five passes: Schnittstellenpass (through the gap), Steilpass (in behind), Diagonalpass, Querpass (square), Rückpass (backward). Functions: beating space or an opponent, securing possession, preparing a goal. | Quality = Dosierung (weight) + Präzision. And this line, printed as it stands: "Der Pass ist eine Botschaft und zeigt den Respekt dem Mitspieler gegenüber" — a pass is a message, and it shows the respect you have for your team-mate. |
| Torschuss shooting | Six striking surfaces or forms: Vollrist (instep), Innenrist (inside), Aussenrist (outside), Schlenzer (curled), Lob, Volley / Halbvolley. | Space–time perception and the player's positioning determine the shot selection. |
| Kopfball heading | Two types: offensive and defensive header. Requires courage, explosivity, robustness and precise timing. | Reading the ball's flight and judging the timing are the critical points. |
And what is missing is as solid a finding as what is there. The document contains no section on Verteidigen or Zweikampf (defending, the duel), no Flanke (crossing), no Einwurf (throw-in), no Standardsituation (set piece). Nor is that one document's blind spot: a full-text search of the Swiss federal sport office's own index, across all 215 of its football publications, returns zero exercises for Zweikampf (3 hits, all inside articles), Tackling (0), Pressing (0), Standardsituation (1 hit, inside a methodology text) and Einwurf as a topic — its 5 hits are heading exercises in which the throw-in is a feed. The one exception is Flanke, which the office does publish: 5 heading items and 2 goalkeeping items. The published Swiss technical catalogue is an attacking catalogue; it is Belgium and FIFA who publish the duel and defending, not Switzerland.
The French FA's published vocabulary — and its absentees
On the French side the technical material is published not by the national federation but by its districts. These are the terms they actually print, and what each one means in its source.
| Term | Where it is printed | What it means in the source |
|---|---|---|
| Conduite de balle | Fiches 1–4 of "141 exercices et défis techniques" (District des Yvelines, 2020); U11 contents in the District de Savoie booklet | Running with the ball. It is the stated objective of four separate exercise sheets. |
| Contrôle orienté | Fiche 9, the Noria practice — "controls with the inside of the right foot (oriented)" | Receiving with the body already angled toward the next action. |
| Prise de balle | Fiches 1, 4, 7; Savoie practices | Ball reception. Savoie makes it the head of a whole family: Prise de balle enchaînement passe / conduite / tir. |
| Prise d'information | Savoie U11 contents; the Perception – Portes practice | Scanning — which the French FA files as a technical content item, not a tactical one. |
| Jonglerie | The Jonglerie Échanges and Jonglerie Progressive practices | Juggling, with a graded contract system: Bronze / Silver / Gold across 20 levels. |
| Appui-remise | Fiche 4, Appuis-remises avant tir | The wall pass, the give-and-go. |
| Feinte · Crochet · Passement de jambes | Fiche 2, Dribbles avec feinte — "fake shot followed by an exterior hook"; step-overs around obstacles | The only three beating-your-opponent moves the French FA documents name. |
| Semelle | Fiches 1, 5, 6; dribbling variants | The sole of the foot, as a control and stopping surface. |
| Passe claquée | The Passe courte – Rivière practice — "passe claquée de l'intérieur du pied; cheville verrouillée" | The driven inside-foot pass, ankle locked. |
| Centre · Frappe · Losange · Noria | Savoie practices and Yvelines fiches | The cross, the strike, the diamond shape, and the rotating-carousel passing form. |
Five terms every coach uses that appear in no federation document opened: passe et suit, appel-contre-appel, roulette, râteau, aile de pigeon. These are touchline and broadcast words, not federation words. For beating an opponent, the French FA documents read here use only feinte, crochet, passement de jambes and semelle.
One borderline case worth saying out loud: the one-two. Across the whole federation corpus consulted, the one-two is named only in German, as Doppelpass, inside the Swiss FA practice Ballschule 2 – Mit Doppelpass. The word the French FA prints for the same thing is appui-remise. Two federations, two words, one move — and neither borrows the other's.
Exactly one named move passes the test
The test is simple and severe. For a named move to count as teachable federation content, a federation must (a) name it and (b) carry it inside an exercise it publishes. Across the whole of football's famous repertoire, exactly one move passes: the Übersteiger — the step-over — with the Schere (scissors) beside it, in the Manual Fussball Kinder published by the Swiss federal sport office BASPO with the Swiss FA (2023 edition, 84 pages). And it appears not once but in six drills, across five pages.
| Drill | p. | Text as printed |
|---|---|---|
| Autorennen | 61 | "Den Hindernissen und anderen Kindern ausweichen sowie Finten schlagen (Übersteiger, Schere oder schnell die Richtung wechseln)" |
| Dribbler | 63 | "Je eine Runde mit dem Innenrist, mit dem Aussenrist und als Übersteiger machen…" — here the Übersteiger alone |
| Finten-Star | 63 | "Finten z. B. als Körpertäuschung, Übersteiger oder Schere ausführen" |
| Spiel mit dem Feuer | 64 | Same formulation |
| Chaos-Spiel | 66 | "…mit Täuschungen und Finten (z. B. Körpertäuschung, Übersteiger, Schere) überwinden" |
| 1:1 frontal auf ein Tor | 68 | Same wording |
The rest of the repertoire is nowhere. A byte search of the Laws of the Game in force — the 2026/27 edition, effective from 1 July 2026 — across its English, French and German editions returns zero hits for catenaccio, tiki-taka, back-pass, step-over, nutmeg, rabona, panenka and gegenpressing. Not "rarely": zero. And of the 21 signature moves catalogued for this guide — panenka, rabona, roulette, elastico, nutmeg, madjer, bicycle kick and the rest — none is named or taught by a federation, with the single exception of the step-over above — the one-two falls outside the count, its German form Doppelpass being graded apart precisely because a federation names it.
The one sentence in the Laws that blesses a move does so by family, never by proper name: "A scissors or bicycle kick is permissible provided that it is not dangerous to an opponent" (Law 12.2, playing in a dangerous manner). That is the correct citation for any content teaching either — and there is no other.
The rondo: one exercise, four federation names
Nobody owns this exercise's name. Three federations publish it under four different names — the Swiss FA publishes two of them, one per language — and "rondo" appears only at FIFA, and only as a modifier.
| Form | Federation | Published name | Setup | Success criterion |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2v1 | Swiss FA + J+S | Tigerball – Zu zweit: Zuspiele am Tiger vorbei (DE) · "Le tigre attaque" (FR) | Triangle of about 3 m, the Tiger on a line | 3 passes without the Tiger touching the ball |
| 2v1, zoned | Swiss FA + J+S | Tigerball – Mit Zonen als Einschränkung | An area of about 8 m, the Tiger on the dividing line | 3 consecutive passes |
| 3v1 | Swiss FA + J+S | Tigerball – Zu dritt: Zuspiele am Tiger vorbei | Triangle with sides of about 3 m | 5 passes |
| 3v1 ×2 | Swiss FA + J+S | Tigerball, level 4 | Two triangles of about 6 m, one Tiger in each | 5 passes |
| 3v1 | FIFA | Transitional rondos (warm-up) | Four 8 × 8 m boxes spaced 10 m apart, two rondos running at once | None published; whoever loses the ball sprints to another box |
| 4v2 | FIFA | Transitional rondos, progression 1 | Three 10 × 10 m boxes, two-touch | None published |
| 4v2 | French FA — District de Savoie | "Passe – 4 v 2 Carré" | A square (dimensions not published), defenders rotated every 2–3 min | 6 consecutive passes = 1 pt; a pass played into the interval between the two defenders counts double; defenders who win it score in one of two cages within 6 s |
| 4v4 + 2 | FIFA | 4v4 plus 2 possession game — which FIFA's own text calls an "opposed rondo" | 30 × 15 m divided into thirds | The ball must reach the player in the opposite end zone |
What exists in no federation document opened: the 5v2, the 6v3 as a rondo, and the "rondo posicional". The word toro is Spanish dressing-room speech and reached no federation's print; rondo did reach print, but only at FIFA, only in English, and only as a modifier — "transitional rondos", "opposed rondo" — never as a defined term with a setup. The whole Barcelona rondo mythology is absent from federation print. The two federations that publish the exercise most fully use neither word: the Swiss say Tigerball, the French say "4 v 2 Carré".
And here is the design point that always gets lost: the Swiss ladder is measured in passes completed, never in time (3 passes at level 1, 5 at levels 3 and 4), and the French version scores the pass split between the two defenders at double value. Two checkable scoring rules — and the folk version of the exercise has neither.
The published exercises and their numbers
This is what the federations actually print, with the dimensions and criteria as published.
| Exercise | Source | Setup as published | Criterion or numeric rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Affenball (cat. G) | Swiss FA + J+S | 2 players, 1 ball, open goal 2–5 m wide | More than 50% of 10 attempts at level 1; more than 5 out of 10 at level 2 |
| Brückenwächter (cat. G) | Swiss FA + J+S | About 20 × 15 m, 5–8 players, 1 defender | Four levels: round the obstacles → past the bridge guard → shielding the ball in front of him → scoring after beating him |
| Brückenwächter / "D'une rive à l'autre" school version, ages 7–12 | Swiss sport office — Fussball in der Schule / Football à l'école, 05/2016, p. 7 | Two bank zones and a central bridge marked by lines, poles or cones; two teams; two bridge guards intercepting | An interception swaps the roles; a completed round trip earns a band. Easier: obstacles instead of defenders, one guard, a wider bridge. Harder: more guards, a narrower bridge |
| Ballschule 1 (cat. F) | Swiss FA + J+S | Shooting zone of about 2 × 2 m; approach run 3–4 m at level 1, 5–10 m at level 4 | 50% or more of 10 attempts |
| Ballschule 2 (cat. E) | Swiss FA + J+S | Approach of about 6 m | Level 4 chains pass → feint at a marker → one-two (Doppelpass) → shot |
| Angreifen in Überzahl (cat. F) | Swiss FA + J+S | 3v0, then 3v1, then 3v1+1 | Level 1: maximum 5–10 seconds, and all three players must touch the ball at least once. Level 3: the second defender enters on the first attacker's first touch |
| 1 gegen 1 (cat. F) | Swiss FA + J+S | About 10 × 7 m; large goal 5 m, small goals 0.5 m | One-minute rounds |
| Brücken-Curling | Swiss sport office, 05/2016, p. 8 | 4 benches, one per group; pass from standing | The ball must stop at the bench without touching it; move back after each success. Round 1 left foot, round 2 right foot |
| Mattenkönig | Swiss sport office, 05/2016, p. 14 | 8 upright mats, groups of 4 rotating | Knock a mat over with a shot from progressively increasing distance; teams compete on mats felled |
| Jonglerie Progressive | French FA — District de Savoie | Individual squares | 3 contracts — Bronze / Silver / Gold — across 20 levels. Bronze starts at 2 juggles; you advance by completing each level twice; Silver at 10, Gold at 20 |
| "Pass to immobilise" challenge | French FA — District des Yvelines | Concentric targets of 3 × 3 m, 2 × 2 m and 1 × 1 m, at 5 m | 2 / 5 / 10 points depending on the target hit |
| 1v1 duel (U6-U7) theme "conduite et dribble" | FFA (ACFF, francophone Belgium) — Cahier des duels, 2019-2020 edition | Length 12 m, width 10.5 m; 1 ball per 2 players, 8 cones, 10 markers; start dribbling, in waves | Coaching B+ (in possession): "Avancer avec le ballon près des pieds · Approcher des buts adverses · Faire des blagues (Changer de direction)" — advance with the ball close to the feet, get near the opponents' goals, play tricks by changing direction. Coaching B− (out of possession): "Reprendre le ballon si on le perd · Se placer devant le porteur · Rester debout" — win the ball back if you lose it, get in front of the carrier, stay on your feet |
Two organising units that must not be confused. The French district atelier is published for 8–14 players and 15–20 minutes — that is its unit of account, not a session. On the Belgian side, every défi in the Cahier des défis is published on the same nine-field pro-forma: category, objective(s), tasks, number of players, material, dimensions, description, variants, and the coach's role. The 24 duel forms, by contrast, print material, dimensions, description and the B+/B− coaching. It is the only catalogue opened for this guide that prints a separate in-possession (Coaching B+) / out-of-possession (Coaching B−) coaching split at the level of the individual exercise. Its edition is 2019-2020 and the federation still links it: cite it with its date.
Heading, and its age limits
What follows is the most granular technical description of any single technique in the whole federation corpus consulted. The Swiss sport office's Jeu de tête dossier (monthly theme 03/2015, authored by Bruno Truffer, head of sport for J+S Football) enumerates eight forms: standing position; run-up and one-footed take-off; run-up and two-footed take-off; two-footed take-off with rotation; header moving backwards; flick-on header; diving header; clearing header.
Pages 23 to 26 give, for 15 variants (at a ball machine, after a throw, after a cross), the positioning, the movement sequence, the muscle-contraction cue, the breathing and the follow-through. The recurring coaching block for the standing header, as printed: backswing of the upper body with a deep breath; maximum contraction of the neck and shoulder musculature; dynamic forward body motion; forceful exhalation at contact. And for the coordination work: "Insister sur le mouvement du tronc et le blocage de la musculature de la nuque et du cou".
The document files its 32 exercises in two bands it names itself — Préformation up to 15, Formation from 15 — and inside each it runs Introduction → Global Game 1 → Analytical exercise → Global Game 2 → Mobilisation and strengthening, which is exactly the global – analytical – global logic FIFA publishes elsewhere as GAG. Two setups worth keeping: Handball avec la tête 1 is played on 15 × 20 m with two 5 m goals, 4v4 up to 6v6, with the hands, maximum three steps, no dribbling, and goals count only from a header — with a scoring gradient that is anything but obvious: 1 point for a header returned to the thrower, 5 points for a headed goal. And Coordination du jeu de tête runs to two sets of 10–15 repetitions.
But before programming a single minute of it, you need to know whose federation you are following — because they do not measure the same quantity, and their limits cannot be reconciled.
| Federation | In matches | In training |
|---|---|---|
| French FA "Jeu de tête" booklet, 16 December 2025 | "Suppression du jeu de tête pour les catégories U6 à U9, filles et garçons, à l'entraînement et pendant les rencontres" — heading removed for U6 to U9, girls and boys, in training and in matches | No heading time at all from U6 to U9 inclusive; no session devoted solely to heading from U10 to U17 inclusive; a maximum of 15 minutes of heading in any one session, U10 to U17 inclusive |
| Swiss FA | No restriction. The 2026/27 implementing provisions for children's and youth football contain no heading clause | No published limit. The J+S/BASPO manual's Kopfball module prescribes technique, drills and dimensions with no age, no header count and no time cap; its only age-facing line instructs coaches to adapt heading training to the level and age of the players |
| The FA (England) | Deliberate heading removed from matches: U7-U9 from 2024-25, U10 from 2025-26, U11 from 2026-27. Restart = indirect free kick where the header occurred, or — if inside the player's own penalty area — to the opposition from the nearest point on the penalty-area line; no disciplinary sanction unless persistent, and then a caution | U7-U11: heading not introduced. U12-U13: maximum 1 session per week, at most five headers, light balls, unopposed. U14-U16, U18 and adult amateur: 1 session per week, 10 headers per player per session |
| Scottish FA | No playing rule and no restart — the guidance regulates training only | Seven bands, running to 17s. No heading practice up to 11s; at 12s the guidance says it should still not be introduced and, where unavoidable, at most one session per month, five headers, always unopposed; at 13s one session a week and five headers; at 14s-15s ten headers; at 16s-17s one session a week. It is the only federation that instructs on inflation: use the lowest pressure the Laws of the Game allow |
| US Soccer | Banned at U11 and below, in practices and games alike; a deliberate header in a game is an indirect free kick to the opposing team | U12-U13: maximum 30 minutes of heading training per week, and 15–20 headers per player per week |
Five federations, four different units of measurement — minutes per session (France), headers per session and sessions per week (England, USA), sessions per month and then per week (Scotland), and nothing at all (Switzerland, and that is a deliberate position: the Swiss FA's development director Patrick Bruggmann calls a ban "wenig sinnvoll", of little use). Only England and the USA turned theirs into a playing rule with a restart. No Belgian position was sought for this guide; absence here is not evidence of absence — check with ACFF / URBSFA. A club that commits to a limit therefore has to name the federation whose limit it is applying — there is no common number.
Sources
Swiss FA (ASF/SFV), Technik-Training, C Basic Diploma, day 4, module TE 14 · Swiss federal sport office (OFSPO/BASPO) — mobilesport.ch, Fussball in der Schule / Football à l'école, monthly theme 05/2016 · Jeu de tête, monthly theme 03/2015 (Bruno Truffer, head of sport J+S Football) · Football – Sport des enfants J+S, monthly theme 06-07/2013 · Swiss FA + J+S, Kinderfussball – Theorie und Praxis, course document (2015), and its French edition Football des enfants – Théorie et pratique (terms and page anchors attested, no sentence quoted from it) · BASPO with the Swiss FA, Manual Fussball Kinder, 2023 edition, 84 pp. — pp. 61, 63, 64, 66, 68 and 74 · the mobilesport.ch REST index, 215 football publications enumerated · FIFA Training Centre, session plan and Talent Coach Programme · French FA, District des Yvelines, 141 exercices et défis techniques and 73 jeux / situations sans ballon (2020, post-COVID resumption documents) · French FA, District de Savoie, Livret pédagogique U10-U11 / U12-U13 (2021) · FFA (ACFF), Cahier des défis / Cahier des duels — Festifoot U6-U7, 2019-2020 edition · IFAB, Laws of the Game 2026/27, English, French and German editions (Law 12.2 and the glossary) · French FA, Jeu de tête digital booklet, 16 December 2025 · The FA, Scottish FA and US Soccer children's heading guidance. Verified August 2026.
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