Exploring the impact of ball possession directionality on youth footballers’ positioning, technical skills and physical abilities in small-sided games

This study aimed to investigate the effects of manipulating ball possession directionality (i.e., NO direction, MULTI direction or ONE direction) on the physical, tactical and technical performance of youth football players during small-sided games (SSGs). A total of 18 male youth football players (age: 13.6 ± 0.4 years) participated in four testing days, where they completed three random order experimental tasks based on a 4vs4 SSG: (i) NO direction, where players performed a ball possession task without a specific direction to progress; (ii) MULTI direction, where two neutral players were added to the top of each pitch and players could use them to maintain possession; and (iii) ONE direction, where each team defended and scored in two small goals placed at opposite ends of the pitch. In the positioning perspective, the NO condition showed a higher spatial exploration index than the other two conditions ( p = .001), while higher distance to the nearest teammate was identified in the MULTI ( p = .007) and to the nearest opponent in the ONE ( p < .001). In the physical variables, higher game pace ( p = .002), total distance covered ( p < .001) and jogging distance ( p < .001) were identified in the MULTI than the other conditions. Lastly, from the technical perspective, players revealed better passing decision-making ( p = .004) in the ONE than NO or MULTI conditions. Based on these results, coaches may use NO condition to emphasize space exploration, MULTI to increase external load and game pace, while ONE to emphasize technical actions related to ball control and pass.