A soccer pre-season plan stands or falls with one question: what do you fill the first weeks with? Many coaches start with runs and drills without opponents and hope the game form will come back by itself later. This article shows an example plan that thinks the other way round: after a good warm-up almost everything happens in game forms, the load rises in three blocks, and from week three the four phases of the game return week by week. At the end you can save the plan as a template.
The idea: pre-season with game forms only
The plan assumes a restart after a longer break. After a careful warm-up (blocks and routines are in Soccer Warm-Up: A Routine in 6 Building Blocks), training takes place only in game forms. The content comes from control elements such as pitch size, number of players, time and rules. Provocation rules, meaning rules that make the wanted behavior happen often, do the steering.
You chain four types of form: small-sided games, large-sided games, game simulations and game-related individual training. How to build such forms is covered in How to Build Soccer Drills — A Simple Framework. The thinking behind it: soccer demands explosive actions, sprints and changes of direction, interrupted by jogging and walking breaks. Short, intense game forms with breaks reproduce exactly that.
All times and breaks in this article are practical values from an example plan, not tested norms. Adjust them to the length of the break, the level and the age group of your team.
The main load: three blocks
Each week has one session where the load is the focus. It changes in three blocks, from the large pitch to the small one:
- 8v8 up to 11v11, two weeks. Example: 2 × 10 minutes with 2 minutes of rest in between.
- 5v5 up to 7v7. Example: 4 × 4 minutes with 2 minutes of rest in between.
- 3v3, two weeks. Example: 6 × 1 minute with 2:30 minutes of rest in between, in two sets.
How long you run the middle block is up to you. Progress slowly: you increase the playing time or, in 3v3, shorten the breaks. In the first pre-season week the main load falls on two days with three days between them. After that it moves to the day three days before the friendly. For which pitch sizes fit which numbers, and for the small blocks, see Small-Sided Games: Coaching Drills for Soccer That Do More.
The first two weeks: touch all four phases
In the first two weeks you get an overview for yourself and the team. You touch all four phases of the game: possession, losing the ball, defending against the ball and winning the ball. It is about basic sequences, not details. The first friendly comes only after these two weeks. The phases themselves are explained in Phases of Play in Soccer: Plan Training Around the Game.
From week 3: one phase per week
From the third week each week gets a focus, and every phase comes up once a month. The pattern matches the monthly rhythm from Soccer Monthly Training Plan: 4 Weeks, 4 Phases. Example themes:
- Possession: for example building out from the goalkeeper.
- Losing the ball: behavior right after losing the ball, close to your own line.
- Defending against the ball: for example pressing against the opponent's build-up.
- Winning the ball: winning the ball close to your own line and the switch afterwards.
The themes mirror each other: the pressing against build-up in week 5 picks up the build-up from week 3, only from the other direction. The level rises by itself, because the team plays against a better version of its own idea. In the next month you take further situations from the same phases. For depth on themes of these weeks, see Gegenpressing Explained: Counter-Pressing in Soccer, High Pressing Games That Train Reaction Speed, Not Fitness and Build-Up Play Against a High Press: A 2v1-into-2v2 Drill. How to build a single week around one focus is shown in Soccer Training Week: Weekly Plan Around One Focus.
Friendlies that match the training phase
Choose the opponent by the focus. If the team has just worked against the opponent's possession, it needs an opponent that demands something in possession itself. You raise the playing time step by step: start at 45 minutes and increase it every week. Competition-style formats for the days in between are in Soccer Practice Tournament: Formats, Teams, Schedule.
Pre-season plan template to save
The template holds the pre-season on one page: for each week the phase of the game, the main load with game form, time and rest, and the friendly. The phases from week 3 are pre-filled, and the load values of the first weeks are given as guide values. Tap or click the image and save it, to print it or fill it in digitally.
Planning the pre-season in Saideline
Enter the pre-season weeks in the Saideline calendar and set the load for each session to Low, Medium or High. You set the weekly theme yourself. From a calendar entry the session is created, and Saideline builds it from coach-made game forms. The calendar is also available in the three free sessions, with no payment details. How it is built is explained in Soccer Training Calendar: Plan Weeks, Load and Sessions, and the method for the whole year is in Soccer Annual Training Plan: Cycles, Themes, Set Pieces. To try it, see Soccer Coaching App Pricing: Try 3 Sessions Free.
Frequently asked questions about the soccer pre-season plan
How long is pre-season in soccer?
That depends on the break, the fixture list and the level. The example plan starts with two weeks of overview across all four phases of the game and then continues week by week. The first friendly comes after the first two weeks.
Is a pre-season with game forms only enough?
After the warm-up, the example plan deliberately relies on game forms, because they combine explosive actions, sprints and changes of direction with breaks. Whether that suits your team depends on the length of the break, age and level. The times are practical values, not norms.
Which game form fits which load?
In the example plan the main load moves from 8v8 up to 11v11 through 5v5 up to 7v7 to 3v3. With each step the rounds get shorter and more intense.
When does the team play the first friendly?
After the first two weeks. The playing time starts at 45 minutes and rises week by week. You choose the opponent to fit the current focus.
Conclusion
A pre-season in game forms removes the split between fitness and content: the same sessions deliver load, phases of the game and friendly preparation. Take the example plan as a frame, enter your weeks in the template and change times and breaks so they fit your team.